Chords for Harry Chapin - Stranger With The Melodies - 10/21/1978 - Capitol Theatre (Official)

[B] _ _ _ _ _ I think back then to [Bm] cheap seats.
_ _ _ _ _ [B]
You can always count on the cheap seats.
That's one of the adages of modern [Eb] music.
_ _ Here's the song. _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ [Ab] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
_ _ It [Eb] was my first full year of college.
[Gb] _ [Ab] I lived in a college town.
[Fm] _ _ Went and rented a room in a rooming house that [Bb] was tumbling down.
[Gm] _ [Bb] _ _ [Eb] I did not have the money [Gb] then [Ab] to pay for a better place.
[Fm] _ Still all in all it suited a boy [Bb] making the [Ab] paper chase.
_ _ [Fm] _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ [Gm] _ [Bb] _ [F] It [Eb] was my first night in that [Gb] lumpy bed [Ab] in the last room down the hall.
[Fm] _ Heard a horse voice, a sad guitar
[Bb] coming through the paper-thin wall.
_ A [Eb] crazy _ nonsense nursery [Gb] rhyme
[Db] that did not [Ab]
mean a thing.
_ [Fm] But for the first of what was to be a thousand times, [Bb] this is what I [Gm] heard him _ [Bb] sing. _ _ _
_ [Gm] _ Oh [Eb] hold that D chord on the old [Ab] guitar
_ till I found the G.
_ Drop [Fm] it down to only minor
_ [Bb] till the A chord rolls back home _ [Eb] around for me.
_ _ _ _ I had [Abm] to lay [Eb] there [Gm] listening.
It seemed he was in my room.
[Fm] Yeah, the voice that held the melodies
_ [Bb] singing there [Gm] in the [Bb] gloom.
[B] He repeated it over and over again [Gb] such a soft and sinking sound.
It [Bbm] was kind of like a music box that was [Abm] slowly winding [Db] down.
_ [Gb] He sang it and he hummed it.
_ [Fm] _ He whistled it, he strummed it.
[Ab] He laughed it and he [Fm] cried it.
He [Bb] did _ everything but hide _ it. _ _
_ [Gm] _ Oh [Eb] hold that D [Abm] chord [Eb] on the old guitar
[Ab] _ till I found the G.
[Fm] Drop it down to only minor
[Bb] till the A chord rolls back home [Eb] around for _ _ me.
_ _ The [Ebm] anatomy of emptiness
_ [Ab] counting choruses instead of sheet.
_ [Fm] Then I banged on the wall and out I [Bb] called, hey bub, I need some sleep.
_ _ [Eb] _ Sudden void [Gbm] of silence.
[Ab] Then I heard that horse [Abm] voice say
[Fm] it weren't so very long ago
[Bb] they paid me [Ab] to play.
_ _ _ _ [Fm] _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [Bb]
I
[Eb] said it's a little late for music, [Gm] bub, [G] two hours till it's [Bb] daylight. _ _
[Fm] He said I need my music most [Bb] in the dark hours [Gm] of the night.
[D] _
[B] You see I've tried getting high on something son, [Gb] but it only brings me down. _
[Bbm] Staying dry don't work out better son.
[Ab] My eyes get wet and [Db] I drown. _
_ [Gb] Please let me continue
and [Fm] I'll be in your debt.
You [Ab] see I'm not singing to [Fm] remember, _ [Bb] I'm singing to [Gm] _ _ [Bb]
forget.
_ _ _ _ [Gm] _ _
Oh [Eb] hold that D chord on the old guitar
[Ab] _ till I found the G. _
Drop [F] it down to only minor
_ [Bb] till the A chord rolls back home [Gbm] around [Fm] for me. _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Db] I said if [Fm] I must listen sir, _ [Bbm] one quick [Ab] question then.
[Db] _
_ _ [Gb] Why in the hell [F] do you sing one song [Bb] over and over again?
_ _ _ _ _ [Abm] He gave a sound like a [Eb] rusty wood rasp _
[Ab] on a board from an old woodshed.
_ [Fm] _
At first I thought he was weeping.
_ [Bb] Then this is what he said.
He said [Eb] I gave her the [Gb] music son.
[Ab] _ She gave me the words.
[Fm] _ _ Together we'd write the kind of songs [Bb] the angel must [Gm] have heard.
[Bb] _ _ [Eb] _ Of course we'd fight like cats and dogs, [Ab] but life ain't no rosebud dream.
[Fm] _ Still whatever we do
_ everybody knew [Bb] we truly were a _ team.
_ [Eb] I said your son like [Gm] what's his name?
He said that's who I am.
But [Fm] you can't wrap a name around your son, [Bb] cause it really don't mean a damn.
You [B] see I can't remember now if I done it wrong [Gb] or if she done wrong to me.
_ _ [Bbm]
All I know is when I let her go [Fm] that it did not [Ab] set me [Db] free.
_ [Gb] A song don't have much meaning [Fm] when it don't have nothing to say.
_ [Ab] What she could do was [Fm] magic boy.
[Bb] All I could do [Gm] was play.
[Bb] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Eb] It was just about then I drifted [Gm] off.
_ Maybe I dream about what I heard.
_ _ [Fm] About the voice that held the melodies.
_ [Bb] Who had gone and lost the words. _
Hold [Eb] that D [Abm] chord [Eb] on the old guitar.
[Ab] _ _ Till I found the G.
[Fm] Drop it _ down to only minor.
_ [Bb] Till the A chord rolls back [Gm] home [Bbm] _ around [Eb] for me.
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _