When We Were Writers chords by Indigo Girls

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)


Intro:
D      Em      A      G

Verse 1:
D                                Em
  Look a gift horse in the mouth   go get a job
A                                 G
  Last best deal I ever got was a quarter for a beer on the quad
D                                       Em
  Nevilles singing on a makeshift stage   you sittin' on a towel in the shade
A                                  G
  Came from a foreign town and you smoked a joint with Jackson Browne

Pre-Chorus 1:
D          D/C#         G/B   D/A
What if my pain won’t deliver me
           E      G               A
What if my stasis crushes me with boredom
     D         D/C#             G/B          D/A
If I read into   everything you say to me
       Em            D/F#            G                   A
I will never get the meaning of your words like when you wrote them

Chorus 1:
D            Em      D/F#         C
When we were writers when we were fighters
  G                         A
Before we found purpose and made deals with God
      D           Em           D/F#        C
Let’s pull an all nighter push wood in the fire
   G                                A
It might just look like smoke in my eyes but I’m still burning in - Interlude: side

Interlude:
D      Em      A      G

Verse 2:
D                             Em
  Some sailed the calmer seas   serial monogamy
A                                  G
  Best trip I ever took was on the ship that I wrecked and how I got set free
D                                 Em
  Strange boy in the Vegas summer Dancing by the pool to a different drummer
A                     G
  Maybe a heat mirage   or a message in camouflage

Pre-Chorus 2:
D         D/C#             G/B
What if I thought that the best of me
D/A         E    G          A
Spending my days doing just fine
   D               D/C#      G/B          D/A
To short change my true full capacity
    Em           D/F#            G              A
And recognize it just when I was running out of time

Chorus 2:
D            Em      D/F#      C
When we were writers we were igniters
G                     A
Blisters to callus to scars from the war
    D             Em          D/F#         C
The sentence gets tighter the impact grows wider
     G                     A
When nothing is wasted nor chances denied

Bridge:
            Em         D/F#
I’ve had my day in the sun that’s no lie
G               A
  But I’m still burning inside
F                       G
  The slings and arrows   the passage narrows
C                         Fm
  The story harrowing the word becomes flesh
D                        Gm
  Wrestle the beast that leaves you diminished
     Em               D/F#     G           A
It’s alright you will never be finished

End-Chorus:
D             Em     D/F#          C
When you’re a writer when you’re a fighter
G                A
Easy to be cruel better to be kind
D                Em             D/F#           C
Plow through the stalks of your heart’s tinder box
G                            A
Flint to the rock and you’ll find you’re still burning in - Outro: side

Outro:
D      Em      A      G
D      Em      A      G
D