The Hold Steady – Esther (Guitar)

        C                          Am
In the middle of a mission I met Esther in the kitchen

G                                      Am
Drinking something blue it looked like Windex

C
She could shake but couldn't really sing, Sharpened like a feral thing

G                                   Am
Helped me with my part when I lost interest

    E	                             F
She said her name was Esther I said baby that sounds biblical

       C                             G
Ain't she the one that came up after Vashti?

C
Yeah and then some other stuff

    Am
At some point there I fell in love

G                                   Am
Then she heard a song she liked and lost me

    C                       Am
The party ended suddenly, suddenly it's over

      F
That left me an Esther all alone and getting older

     C                       Am
All alone and getting older smoking in the street

     F
Now everything is Esther and it's been that way all week

C                                      Am
The times that we were powerless were times that I remember best

      G                                  Am
When it first came on it felt just like a blanket

C
Once we had a little bit we pretty much just wasted it

G                                           Am
Traded in our tickets for drinks and little trinkets

    E                                F
The scene back in the city was the opposite of freedom

C                                         G
We were always so damn broke it was this whole dependent fallacy

C                            Am
They started shooting so the songs of the future

G                             Am
Esther always wants it how it used to be

C                                          Am
Songs all ran together and the kids ran outta liquor

F
That's when me and Esther started staring at each other

          C                    Am
Started staring at each other feeling pretty sweet

     F
Now everything is Esther it's been that way all week

     C                          Am
The parties fall to pieces the endings are so heavy

F
Feels like no one's watching when we're this deep in the valley

            C                              Am
When we're this deep in the valley you can see so many stars

     F
When Esther told her story we were sitting in the car

Am	                          F
   She said her folks were never close

                        C
They had me 'cause they had to

                G
No one named me Esther

                      F
That came up a little later

                 C
It was after some detective

                           G
Came around here with some questions

                Em
I went out to Colorado

                  F
Was mostly in the motels

                      C
Started living pretty reckless

                       G
Started calling myself Esther

                                  Em      E
I just felt like someone different

C	                           Am
Felt like someone different and I never could forgive

        F
All the movies in our heads about the lives we wanna live

     C	                        Am
The lives we wanna live are all free of pain and fear

    F
Now Esther's getting cigarettes and me I'm buying beer

C	                    Am
Felt like someone different felt like someone else

    F
She almost died in Denver, she did it to herself

    C	                    Am
She did it herself, there's only her to blame

   F
Of course I call her Esther I don't know her other name

      C      	           Am
She's never going home her folks were never close

   F
We mostly watch the TV crack the windows when we smoke

    C	                Am
Her aura is amazing her room is kind of bleak

      F
I met Esther at a party got together for a week