In California chords by Joanna Newsom

Intro:

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 My heart became a drunken runt

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on the day I sunk in this shunt

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to tap me clean of all the wonder and the sorrow

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I have seen since I left my home

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My home, on the old Milk Lake,

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where the darkness does fall so fast, it feels like some

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kind of mistake just like they told you it would

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just like the Tulgeywood).

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When I came into my land, I did not understand:

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neither dry rot, nor the burn pile, nor the bark-beetle, nor the dry well,

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Eb            G
nor the black bear.

            D
but there is another
                G
who is a little older
                Bm
when i broke my bone,
                               G
he carried me up from the riverside
            D
to spend my life in spitting distance
        G
of the love that i have known
            Bm
i must stay here
               G
in an endless eveningtide
                    D
and if you come and see me
                 G
you'll upset the order
                    Bm
you cannot come and see me
                 G
for i set myself apart
                      D
but when you come and see me
   G
in California
       Bm        (A)     D
you cross the border of my heart

                     D             D7
well, i have sown untidy furrows 'cross my soul
          G             Gm
but i am still a coward
                  D              D7
content to see my garden grow so sweet

     G             Gm   (A)
and full of someone else's flowers
                Bm                 (A)  G
sometimes i can almost feel the power
(A)           Bm               (A)   G
sometimes i am so in love with you
(A)           Bm                            (A)   G
like a little clock that trembles on the edge of the hour
(A)      Bm                       (A)    G
only ever calling out "cuck-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo"

When I called you, you, little one, in a bad

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way, did you love me? Do you spite me?

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Time will tell if I can be well,

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and rise to meet you rightly.

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While, moving across my land, brandishing themselves like a burning branch,

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advance the tallow-colored, walleyed deer,

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Eb        G
quiet as gondoliers,

while, i wait all night for you in California
             Bm
watching the fox pick off my goldfish
                   G
from their sorry, golden state
           D                 G  (sus4)
and i am no longer afraid of anything
         Bm             G
save the life that here awaits

                  D
i don't belong to anyone
   D7                   G         Gm
my heart is heavy as an oil drum
                    D
and i don't want to be alone
      D7                   G            Gm
my heart is yellow as an ear of corn
                   D
and i have torn my soul apart
     D7                     G            Gm
from pulling artlessly with fool commands
                   Bm                           (A)
some nights i just never go to sleep at all
   G
and i stand
(A)            Bm           (A)            G
shaking in the doorway like a sentinel, all alone
(A)             Bm            (A)
bracing like the bow upon a ship
       G
and fully abandoning
(A)           Bm
any thought of anywhere but home
(A) G
my home
(A)            Bm           (A)  G
sometimes i can almost feel the power
(A)  Bm (A) G
and i do love you
(A)       Bm                      (A)       G
is it only timing that has made it such a dark hour
(A)       Bm                  (A)     G
only ever chiming out "cuck-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo"

^ for the backing harp pattern here I came up with this:

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A

Bm           (A)           G              (A)
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
Bm           (A)           G              (A)
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
Bm           (A)           G              (A)
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a
Bm           (A)           G              (A)
cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a

My heart, I wear you down, I know.

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Gotta think straight, keep a clean plate;

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keep from wearing down. If I lose my head,

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just where am I going to lay it?

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for it has half who need to be hanging around
               Bb         C   Ab           Bb      C
Here among the Daphne blooming out of the big ground
      Bb         C   Ab           Bb      C
i'm a native too, but i'm overgrown
     Bb         C   Ab           Bb      C               C
i am sure my roots are near here as rich as rope
    Bb       Ab
here down
       C