Chords for 2016-12-06 Teddy Thompson - Ballad Of The Absent Mare (Leonard Cohen cover)

The Absent Mare _ and it's a song about a cowboy _ whose horse runs away _ _
But _ not really it's not really about that _
[F#] _ _ [B] It's long and there's a lot of [F#] words, so I'm gonna read it off the [A] phone
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ Say _ _ [E]
a prayer for the cowboy
His [Bm] mare's run away
_ [B] And he'll walk till he finds her
[Am] His darling [G] is stray but [F#] the river's in [E] flood
And the roads are washed and the bridges break up
_ In [B] the panic [Em] of the law
_ _ _ And _ _ _ _ there's nothing to follow
There's nowhere to go
[A] She's gone like the summer
_ Gone like the snow
[Em] And the crickets are breaking his heart with their [B] song as the day caves [E] in
_ [Dm] And the [G#] night is [F#] all alone
_ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ Did he dream?
Was it she who went galloping past?
Who bent [Am] down to fern?
[G#] Broke open the [Em] grass
And pelted the mud with the iron and gold
[B] That he nailed to her feet
_ _ [Bm] When he [F]
[Em] was below
_ [E] _ And _ _
[Em] _ _ [Bm] although she goes [E]
crazy a minute [Em] away
[C] He tracks her all night
_ [G] Tracks her all day
[Em] O blind to her presence
Except to _ compare [C#] his injury _
_ [B] _ With her punishment _
_ [C] _ _ _ [A] _ _ _ [E] _
[Em] Then at home on a branch in the highest [N] tree
_ Songbird sings out so suddenly
How [Em] the sun it is warm and [E] the soft winds ride on the [G] willow tree
_ [E] _ _
By the _ _ riverside _ _
_ _ _ _ Oh the world it is [Em] sweet
Oh the world it is wide
[A] And she's there where the light and the darkness [G#] divide
[Em] And the steam's coming off [E] her
She's huge and she's shy
And she [B] steps on the moon
_ [Em] When she paws at [E] the sky
_ And _ _ _ _ [Em] she comes to his hand
Oh she's not really [G#] tame
She [A] longs to be free
He [D] longs for the cement [Em] she'll bolt
And she'll plunge
Through [E] the first open [B] pass
To roll empty feet
_ [E] In the sweet mountain [C] grass
[Em] _
Oh _ _ _ _ she'll make her break
For the high plateau
[A]
Where there's nothing above [B] _ Nothing below
[Em] And it's time for the burden
It's time [Cm] for the whip
[B] Can she walk
Can she walk through the flame
_ Will he shoot [Em] from the _ head
_ _ [E] _ _ _
[Em] So he binds himself
Through the galloping [E] mare
She _ binds herself
To the rider there
And there is no space
But there's left and there's right
[B] And there is no _ time
[G#m]
But there's [F] day and there's night
[C] _ _
And _ _ _ [Em] he leans on her
And he leans on her neck
And he whispers low
[F] With a loud voice
I [Bm] will go
And [F#] they turn as [E] one
And they [Cm] head for the plain
[N] No need for the whip
_ _ Ah no need for the [E] ring
_ _ _ _ Now _ _ _ [C] _ [E] the clasp of this union
Who fastens [F#] it tight
[G#] Who snaps it [F] asunder
[G#] Very next [E] night
Some say the rider
Some say the mare
[Bm] Or their love's like the smoke
_ _ _ _ [C] Beyond [E] all repair _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Em] But my darling she says
Let it let it go [E] by
That old [C] silhouette
On the great western sky
[Bm]
[Em] So I pick out a tune
And they [E] move right along
[B] And they're gone like the smoke
_ _ [F] And they're gone [E] like the song _ [N] Thank _ _ _