Okkervil River – A Hand To Take Hold Of The Scene (Guitar)

       Bm                     _                         A      _
I'm a band in a show about a man holding hands with his   wife

      Bm                          _                         _                   A           _
On a therapist's couch, with his face to the ground (after fucking around countless nights)

             G                      _                      A        _
And, in this one episode, close-up cameras are showing him   crying

         Em      G         A    _
His red head and   his red eyes

       Bm                     _                 A   _
I'm a band in a show about a boy being buried alive

          Bm                      _                              _
From his head to his toes, by a criminal (but with a sensitive soul!)

                  A        _
With a set of raccoon eyes

                   G                       _                        A  _
And there's this scene in the show when a hustler knows he's gonna die

           Em       G                  A      _
The ground    opens   and he climbs in---side

D                              A                              Em
    And as he speaks his last line, a thought falls from his mind

                  G                 A  _
And I pick it up right through the TV

    Em  _  G
Oh, oh

     _      A            _
Is there a hand to take hold of the scene?

       Bm                        _                     A    _
I'm a man in a dream and there, dancing in front of my eyes

            Bm                            _                        _                  A       _
Is a queen, formed out of flaws, with her eyes all gone odd and a rod bolted into her   spine

          G                          _
She rises up like a yawn, grips my heart like a claw

             _                       A     _
She splits apart like a jaw, like an   eye

        Em      G         A   _
And she asks me   with a sigh

D                           A                           Em
    When we're so far from right, when we're losing the fight

                        G                 A  _
When we're letting the light weaken its beam

    Em  _  G
Oh, oh

     _      A            _
Is there a hand to take hold of the scene?

         D   _           Em
I want a   smile like a glistening shard

          _                      A       _
I want a kiss that's as sharp as a knife

           G    _
The day ex---pires

        D   _             Em                    _                      A      _
And the   dry, cracked, trembling lips God saw fit to put this kiss in---side

            G      D
I lift them up to you

                 Em       A
I'd like to bear witness to a...

Bm                         _                    A    _
Light that is fine and is filling the cryingest eyes

 Bm                         _                      _                 A     _
Grace in each face that is making the wastedest, brokenest ones fairly fly

 G                    _                     _                  A      _
Love that is innocent of that old cynical, covetous, cancerous   vibe

      Em     G         A   _        (D)
And a beauty   that annihilates all life

D                            A                           Em
    Like it's lived in these nights, holding your hatred tight

                         G
Like a sign that you're right or you're strong

D                             A                        Em
    When your doors are shut tight, I will dream you tonight

                         G
And my dream will just sweep you along

D                       A                                Em
    When all fires are fanned, when we're shucking our plans

                         G              A      _
When we're too weak to stand on our two   feet

    Em  _  G
Oh, oh

     _      A            _
Is there a hand to take hold of the scene?