Surviving Twin chords by Loudon Wainwright Iii

Intro:
D G A G D


Verse 1:
D                  G
   Last week I attended a family affair
   A              G        D
And a few remarked upon my recent growth of facial hair
D                             G
You look just like your father did with that beard someone said
  A             G          D
I answered back I am him even though my old man's dead
 A         G D        A
I didn't want to be him well at first I did
A            G    D   A   D
When I loved and looked up to him as a little kid

Verse 2:
D                           G
He sent me to his old school I was a numeral with his name
    A                  G         D
And he gave me this gold signet ring and he wore one just the same
D                          G
And I guess that I believed him and probably it was true
    A                  G         D
When he told me I was just like him, that's what some fathers do
   A        G      D       A
But a father's always older and my dad was rather tall
A       G           D    A   D
Who says size doesn't matter, he was big and I was small


Instrumental:
D G A G D


Verse 3:
D                      G
I needed to be big enough to be someone someday
   A                 G      D
And I learned I had to beat him and that was the only way
D                              G
I learned I had to fight him, my own flesh, blood, bone and kin
   A               G        D
But I felt I was just like him can a man's son be his twin
   A        G       D       A
First we fought for my mother, that afforded little joy
A             G        D      A   D
When he left she was heart broken and I was still their little boy


Verse 4:
D                        G
But I started to get bigger and to win the ugly game
    A             G      D
When I made a little money and I got a bit of fame
D                             G
And I saw how this could wound him, yes this could do the trick
    A              G      D
And if I made it big enough I could kill him off quick
    A       G      D          A
But how can you murder someone in a way that they don't die
A        G          D  A D
I didn't want to kill him, that would be suicide


Instrumental:
D G A G D


Verse 5:
D                          G
I got frightened so I backed off I let up and I was through
      A             G         D
And in the end he did himself in usually that's what we do
D                     G
I'm alive and he is dead and neither of us won
   A                G       D
It's spoiled for the victor once the vanquishing is done
 A       G         D        A
A man becomes immortal through his daughter or his son
A           G     D    A   D
But when he fears his legacy, a man can come undone



Outro:
D                        G
And the beard is a reminder I'm a living part of him
 A                  G       D
Although my father's dead and gone I'm his surviving twin

D G

 A                   G       D