The Divers Wife chords by Joanna Newsom

Chords with lyrics

e ----------------------------------------...----|
BB ---1-0--------------------------1-0-----...----|
G+G -2-----0---2-0---------0---2---2----0---...----|
D MajorD ---------2-----2---2-0---2------------2-...----|
A augmentedA -0---------------3---------3------------...----|
E MajorE ------------------------------1---------...----|

A minorAm
The diver is my love
  G+G      A minorAm    G+G
and I am his, if I to be deceived
  Fmaj7Fmaj7
who takes one breath above for eve-ry
A minorAm
hour below the sea

A minorAm
Who gave to me a jewel
   G+G         A minorAm  G+G
worth twice this woman's life, though it cost her less
   Fmaj7Fmaj7
than laying at low tide to see
  A minorAm
her true love phosphoresce.

C majorC
And in an infinite regress,
    G minorGm         DmDm
tell me why is the pain of birth
    FF           C majorC
lighter borne than the pain of death?

G+G         FF
I ain't saying I loved you first,
   C majorC     Bb majorBb
but I loved you best.

A minorAm
I know we must abide
   G+G   A minorAm     G+G
each by the rules that bind us here:
  Fmaj7Fmaj7
the divers and the sailors and
  A minorAm
the women on the pier.

A minorAm
How do you choose your voice?
  G+G         A minorAm              G+G
How do you choose your name? How do you choose your life?
  Fmaj7Fmaj7
How do you choose the time you must
   A minorAm
exhale and kick and rise?

C majorC
And in an infinite capsize,
    G minorGm          DmDm
like a boat tearing down the coast,
    FF          C majorC
double hulls bearing double masts.
    G+G          FF
I don't know if you loved me most,
    C majorC    Bb majorBb
but you loved me last.

Recall the word you gave
to count your way across the depths of this arid world,
where you will yoke the waves that lay
a bed of shining pearls.

I dream it every night:
the ringing of the pail, the motes of sand dislodged, the shucking, quick and bright
the twinned and cast off shells reveal
a single heart of white.

And in an infinite backslide,
ancient boulders sink past the west,
like a sword at the bearer's fall.
I don't say that I knew you best,
but did you know me at all?

A augmentedA woman is alive, a woman is
alive. You do not take her from your side
An anchor on a stone, alone,
unfaceted and fine.

And never will I wed.
I'll hunt the pearl of death to the bottom of my life,
and ever hold my breath 'til I may be the diver's wife.

See how the infinite divides,
and the divers are not to blame
for the rift spanning distant shores.
You don't know my name,
but I know yours.