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