[Intro]
Bm D Gmaj7
[Verse 1]
Bm D
As a child it was the place names
Gmaj7
Singin' at me as the first thing
Bm A F#m
How the mouth must be employed in every corner of itself
G D Gmaj7
To say "Appalacicola" or "Hushpukena", like "Gweebarra"
Em A D
a promise softly sung of somewhere else
[Chorus]
G Bm
And as a young man blessed to pass so many road signs
G A F#m
And have my foreign ear made fresh again on each unlikely sound
G D Bm F#m
But feel at home, hearin' a music that few still understand
Em A D
a butchered tongue still singin' here above the ground
[Verse 2]
Bm D G
The ears were chopped from young men if the pitch cap didn't kill them
Bm A F#m
They are buried without scalp in the shattered bedrock of our home
G D
You may never know your fortune
G Em A
Until the distance has been shown between what is lost forever
D
And what can still be known
[Chorus]
G Bm
So far from home to have a stranger call you, "Darling"
G A F#m
And have your guarded heart be lifted like a child up by the hand
G D
In some town that just means 'Home' to them
Bm F#m
With no translator left to sound
Em A D
a butchered tongue still singin' here above the ground
Bm D Gmaj7 F#m
Bm D Gmaj7 Bm
