Joanna Newsom – Baby Birch (Guitar)

Capo 2

Key

Versions (2)

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Chords

    C                F
this is the song for Baby Birch

       Am          F         C
though i will never know you

    C               F
and at the back of what we've done

      Am               F       C
there is the knowledge of you

         C                  F
well, i wish we could take every path

              Am            F          C
could spend a hundred years adoring you

      C                      F
yes, i wish we could take every path

          Am                 F          C
because i hated to close the door on you

       C                F            
do you remember staring up at the stars

    Am               F            C
so far away in their bulletproof cars?

        C                  F
when we heard the rushing, slow intake

        Am                     F      C
of the dark, dark water in the engine brakes?

          C                               F
and i said to you, "well, how about them engine brakes?"

      Am             F      C
and if i should die before i wake,

         C              F  
Will you keep an eye on Baby Birch?

            Am                            F      C
because i'd hate to see her make the same mistake

            Asus4                 C
when it was dark, i called and you came

            Asus4       C
when it was dark, i saw shapes

              Asus4              C     
when I see stars, i feel in your hand

          Asus4             C
and I see stars, and I reel again.

     C               F
Well mercy me. I'll be goddamned.

             Am        
It's been a long, long time

F            C
since I last saw you.

     C            F
And I have never known the plan.

            Am
It's been a long, long time.

F       C
How are you?

     C                    F
Your eyes are green. Your hair is gold.

     Am              F            C
Your hair is black. Your eyes are blue.

   C                      F
I closed the ranks, and I doubled back—

                  Am
but, you know, I hated to close

 F            C
the door on you.

          Asus4                C
We take a walk along the dirty lake.

Hear the goose,

Asus4                   C
cussing at me over her eggs.

                Asus4
You poor little cousin.

                  C
I don't want your dregs

               Asus4               C
(A little baby fussing all over my legs).

             Am
There is a blacksmith,

and there is a shepherd, and there is a butcher-boy,

                C
and there is a barber, who's cutting

and cutting away at my only joy.

       Am
I saw a rabbit,

as slick as a knife, and as pale as a candlestick,

           C
and I had thought it'd be harder to do,

but I caught her, and skinned her quick: held her there,

Am
kicking and mewling,

upended, unspooling, unsung and blue;

          C
told her "wherever you go,

little runaway bunny, I will find you."

             Am
And then she ran,

                     C
as they're liable to do.

             Asus4      C
Be at peace, baby, and begone.

Asus4, C to fade