Okkervil River – Song About A Star (Ukulele)

                            G
He cut your strings so that he could float

                           D
- lit by lights, lifted by alcohol

                 Am
- over acres of loving coast,

                    C                    D
far away from your lonely ghost.

          G
Now he’s cool and all,

                      D
floating anchorless. Ports of call:

                     Am
where it’s fabulous, after all

                      C                  D
of this watching himself just crawl.

 Em    A   C   G
Think you see him?

 D
He’s not there,

             Am
that’s just light

                C
that’s not yet dead.

 Em   A  C  G
Wait two hours

     D                         Am
and watch what’ll be there instead.

         G
Was he small and cold,

                     D
like a ring you call up from home,

                     Am
held so tightly his limbs went numb,

                        C                   D
worn away between your finger and thumb?

                 G
Well, now he’s bought and sold.

                     D
Cry his call number down the phone,

                         Am
he can’t hear you – he’s on his float,

                     C                      D
waving down to the folks at home.

Em     A   C   G
Think you see him?

 D
He’s not there,

             Am
that’s just light

                C
that’s not yet dead.

 Em   A  C  G
Wait two hours

     D                         Am
and watch what’ll be there instead.

Em          D            C          Am
    As the cameras love all of his faces,

      G             Em       D           C
they hide all the traces of you in his heart.

Em            G             C           Am
    Stand in line to hold forth on his grace,

         Em                    Am
but you won’t even get a head-start,

        C    D
Get a head start

         G
As his close-up comes

                      D
cascading down from above,

                         Am
the eyes of a nation in love

                             C
are looking on all of their hopes

     D
held up.

         G
And the words that some

                           D
screenwriter counted and chose,

                                    Am
and then set in their sequence and froze,

                               C
unfreeze on his tongue as he speaks

           D
for all of us

     G
but one.

                 D
And honey, he’s gone.

                Am
And baby, he’s everyone’s.

        C          D
In the dark sky tonight,

           G
cast your eyes

        D
on the dim light

        Am
that he will become.

             C   D
You’re like everyone

     Em      A   C   G
Who thinks they see him

 D
He’s not there,

             Am
that’s just light

                C
that’s not yet dead.

 Em   A  C  G
Wait two hours

     D                         Am
and watch what’ll be there instead.