Kevin Devine – The Burning City Smoking (Guitar)

Capo 3
Key
-
Versions (2)

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Chords

As recorded by Kevin Devine (From the 2006 Album PUT YOUR GHOST TO REST) [Intro] G [Verse 1]
G                           C             D                   G
40 million refugees with no place on this earth to call their home

                                    C               D               G
One for every aimless graduate with nothing else to show for it but loans

    C               G                 D              G
And those of us who make a mark using someone else's blood

    G                                    D             G
Our western stain won't wash away, won't vanish in the flood

          Am               G             C     D        Em
It's just deeper with each hurricane and tidal wave and war

        G
Oh whoa oh woh

        Bm            Em                D                 G
We want everything we see and once it's gone we just want more
[Verse 2]
G                                    C           D            G
Atlas had those shoulders, we've got Am bien and Jamesons and blow

                                 C                   D             G
To bind us in a bubble, keep the newsprint nightmare distant and remote

    C               G               D                   G
But when we wake in guillotines and pitch our screaming fits

         C                G               D               G
When the Governor strikes up the band and gags our parted lips

               Am            G                    C     D       Em
When the worst case shows up dressed and dazzling ready for the ball

        G
Oh whoa oh woh

G        Bm                Em               C      D      G
Boy that bubble's bound to burst and what a tragic way to fall
[Verse 3]
G                                     C                     D                   G
The tabloids tell us hate the rat who strikes those subways closed and puts you out

                                    C                 D                  G
Forget those 50-hour tunnel weeks inhaling steel dust poison through his mouth

           C               G                      D             G
Well if he don't deserve a pension that makes his family feel secure

         C               G              D              G
If we're now so disconnected it's our reflections we ignore

           Am                 G                 C       D      Em
And if our constant choice is skimming past the writing on the wall

        G
Oh whoa oh woh

         Bm               Em             C         D      G
Then I'm sad to say we're lost and I'm embarrassed for us all
[Verse 4]
G                                    C            D             G
So most days I can't put to rest the burning city smoking in my mind

                                      C                 D              G
And I play pretend the principals are nothing more than actors running lines

      C                 G               D               G
And I stumble through a movie set where torture victims laugh

    C                   G           D                   G
At abandoned journalist who juggled knives and daggered glass

           Am            G               C         D Em
While they entertain the marble Heads of State and CEO's

        G
Oh whoa oh woh

          Bm             Em               C          D       G
I stagger past anarchist extras through saloon doors painted gold
[Guitar Solo] G C D G C D G C G D G C G D G Am G C D Em G Bm Em C D G [Verse 5]
G                                    C               D             G
So I turn and I see Uncle Sam, walks out of wardrobe ready for the shoot

                                      C                 D                 G
So I walk right up and talk to him, I tell him that I'm scared and I'm confused

C                   G               D                G 
While they test the cameras out and get the lighting right,

      C              G               D               G
While catering fills coffee cups and carves up apple pie

    Am                 G                  C          D     Em
And while the stylists trim his beard and straighten those lapels

        G
Oh whoa oh woh

  Bm             Em                 C        D           G
I ask his empire eyes what made him drive us straight to hell

          Bm               Em                C           D         G
And as my daydream ends he stands ashamed, a shocked and shattered shell

            Am        G             C        D         G
But there's never any answer for my starving tongue to tell

           G
Oh whoa oh woh oh oh

            Bm                Em                     C         D         G
Cause the director's shouting action, I'm thrown off set, it's just as well