Joanna Newsom – Divers (Guitar)

[Intro] (played through end of verse 1):
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   Am
A diver is my love

     Am                     G
(and I am his, if I am not deceived)

     F                                 Am
who takes one breath above, for every hour below the sea

       Am                 G (alternate Am/G and G)
worth twice this woman's life (but would cost her less

      F
than laying at low tide

            Am   (alternate Am and Am/G)
to see her true love phosphoresce)

           C
And in an infinite regress:

          Gm                 F
Tell me, why is the pain of birth

         F                       C
lighter borne than the pain of death?

         G                   Gb  F
I ain't saying that I loved you first,

        C        Bb
but I loved you best.

   Am
I know we must abide

     Am                 G   (alternate G and Am/G)
each by the rules that bind us here:

      F  (alternate G/F and Am/F)      Am
that divers, and the sailors, and the women on the pier.

        Am
But how do you choose your form?

    Am                      G
How do you choose your name? How do you choose your life?

            F                         Am
How do you choose the time you must exhale, and kick, and rise?

            C
And in an infinite capsize

        Gm                    F
Like a bull tearing down the coast,

        F                     C
double hulls bearing double masts–

         G                Gb  F             C        Bb
I don't know if you loved me most, but you loved me last

   Am
Recall the word you gave:

   Am                         G (alternate between G and Am)
to count your way across the depths of this arid world,

       F
where you would yoke the waves,

                    Am
and lay a bed of shining pearls!

    Am
I dream it every night:

    Am
the ringing of the pail,

     G
the motes of sand dislodged,

      F                                   Am
the twinned and cast-off shells reveal a single heart of white

           C
And in an infinite backslide:

         Gm                    F
Ancient border, sink past the West,

        F                      C
like a sword at the bearer's fall.

          G                Gb  F
I can't claim that I knew you best,

             C          Bb
but did you know me at all?

  Am
A woman is alive!

  Am
A woman is alive;

            G                      F
you do not take her for a sign in nacre on a stone,

          Am
alone, unfaceted and fine.

     Am
And never will I wed.

     Am                              G
I'll hunt the pearl of death to the bottom of my life,

     F
and ever hold my breath,

           Am
till I may be the diver's wife.

              C
See how the infinite divides:

         Gm                 F
and the divers are not to blame

         F                       C
for the rift, spanning distant shores.

  G            Gb  F
You don't know my name,

    C       Bb
but I know yours.