Baby Birch chords by Joanna Newsom

BABY BIRCH
CAPO 2

    C                F
this is the song for Baby Birch
       Am          F         C
though i will never know you
    C               F
and at the back of what we've done
      Am               F       C
there is the knowledge of you

         C                  F
well, i wish we could take every path
              Am            F          C
could spend a hundred years adoring you
      C                      F
yes, i wish we could take every path
          Am                 F          C
because i hated to close the door on you

       C                F
do you remember staring up at the stars
    Am               F            C
so far away in their bulletproof cars?
        C                  F
when we heard the rushing, slow intake
        Am                     F      C
of the dark, dark water in the engine brakes?

          C                               F
and i said to you, "well, how about them engine brakes?"
      Am             F      C
and if i should die before i wake,
         C              F
Will you keep an eye on Baby Birch?
            Am                            F      C
because i'd hate to see her make the same mistake

            Asus4                 C
when it was dark, i called and you came
            Asus4       C
when it was dark, i saw shapes
              Asus4              C
when I see stars, i feel in your hand
          Asus4             C
and I see stars, and I reel again.


     C               F
Well mercy me. I'll be goddamned.
             Am
It's been a long, long time
F            C
since I last saw you.
     C            F
And I have never known the plan.
            Am
It's been a long, long time.
F       C
How are you?
     C                    F
Your eyes are green. Your hair is gold.
     Am              F            C
Your hair is black. Your eyes are blue.
   C                      F
I closed the ranks, and I doubled back—
                  Am
but, you know, I hated to close
 F            C
the door on you.

          Asus4                C
We take a walk along the dirty lake.
Hear the goose,
Asus4                   C
cussing at me over her eggs.
                Asus4
You poor little cousin.
                  C
I don't want your dregs
               Asus4               C
(A little baby fussing all over my legs).

             Am
There is a blacksmith,
and there is a shepherd,
and there is a butcher-boy,
                C
and there is a barber, who's cutting
and cutting away at my only joy.
       Am
I saw a rabbit,
as slick as a knife,
and as pale as a candlestick,
           C
and I had thought it'd be harder to do,
but I caught her, and skinned her quick:
held her there,
Am
kicking and mewling,
upended, unspooling, unsung and blue;
          C
told her "wherever you go,
little runaway bunny,
I will find you."
             Am
And then she ran,
                     C
as they're liable to do.

             Asus4      C
Be at peace, baby, and begone.

Asus4, C to fade