Chords with lyrics
Strumming: Suggested ↓ ↓↑ ↓ ↓↑
Tuning: Standard(
E MajorE 
A augmentedA 
D MajorD 
G+G 
BB E MajorE)
♫ Intro:
A augmentedA
♫ Verse:
A augmentedA
Sweet Abilena looked out
at the midwestern sky
A augmentedA
Sweet seventeen with
a far away look in her eyes
D MajorD
She said "I feel like
C majorC
a bird in a cage
D MajorD
"But come September
C majorC
I'm flying away."
A augmentedA
I said "I'll miss you," then
I made her promise to write
♫ Chorus:
E MajorE
Since we were tall as
the corn in the spring
D MajorD
We shared every secret,
shared every dream
E MajorE
So anxious to grow in
the new summer rain
C majorC
And bloom like a rose on
D MajorD A augmentedA
the calico plains
♫ Verse:
A augmentedA
How could she hear as
we laughed on that long summer night
A augmentedA
The tiny heart of the baby
she carried inside
D MajorD
I stood beside her
C majorC
when September came
D MajorD
Watched her get married,
C majorC
then caught the bouquet
A augmentedA
And like those hand-me-down
dresses she gave me
A augmentedA
I made her dreams mine
♫ Chorus:
E MajorE
From a seat by the window
on wings made of steel
D MajorD
I stared at the patchwork
over the fields
E MajorE
Where young tears that
once flowed like warm summer rain
C majorC
Were turning to snow on
D MajorD A augmentedA
the calico plains
♫ Solo:
E minorEm D MajorD C majorC 
B minorBm A augmentedA
E minorEm D MajorD C majorC G+G D MajorD A augmentedA
♫ Verse:
A augmentedA
Sweet Abilena looks out
at the midwestern sky
A augmentedA
Closer to thirty,
but farther away in her eyes
D MajorD
She holds her babies like
C majorC
she holds her dreams
D MajorD
Each night she kisses and
C majorC
rocks them to sleep
A augmentedA
While she reads the letters
she makes me promise to write
♫ Outro:
A augmentedA
Sweet Abilena looks out at
E minorEm A augmentedA
the midwestern sky
Chords used in Calico Plains by Matraca Berg:
A, D, C, E, Em, Bm, G+G
