Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland 1945

intro : C , G , C , G

muted strumming during “one . . . two . . . one , two , three , four!”

C , G

C G
the only girl i’ve ever loved
C G
was born with roses in her eyes
C G
but then they buried her alive
D C
one evening nine – teen – forty – five
D G
with just her sister at her side
D C
and only weeks before the guns
D G
all came and rained on everyone
D C
now she’s a little boy in spain
D G
playing pianos filled with flames
D C
on empty rings around the sun
D G
all sing to say my dream has come

C G
but now we must pick up every piece
C G
of this life we used to love
C G
just to keep ourselves at least
D
enough to carry on!

C G
and now we ride the circus wheel
C G
with your dark brother wrapped in white
C G
says it was good to be alive
D C
but now he rides a comet’s flame
D G
and won’t be coming back again
D C
the earth looks better from a star
D G
that’s right above from where you are
D C
he didn’t mean to make you cry
D G
with sparks that ring and bullets fly
D C
on empty rings around your heart
D G
the world just screams and falls apart

C G
but now we must pick up every piece
C G
of the life we used to love
C G
just to keep ourselves at least
D
enough to carry on!

G A B C G
and here’s where your mother sleeps
G A B C G D
and here is the room where your brothers were born
G A B C G
in – den – tions in the sheets
C G C D
where their bodies once moved but don’t move anymore
C G C G
and it’s so sad to see the world agree
C G D
that they’d rather see their faces fill with flies
C D G
all when i’d want to keep white roses in their eyes

C G C G