Okkervil River - Starry Stairs

“starry stairs , ” from the album “the stand ins”
by okkervil river

intro :
E / E / G#m / G#m
C#m / B / A / A
F#m / F#m / C#m / C#m
B / B / C#m B / A

verse :
E
they asked for more .
G#m C#m B
( what do you think this fan club is for? )
A F#m
i slithered up each rose corridor .
C#m B C#m B
i kept a warm , safe place at my core ,
A
before i lost it .
E
they asked for blood .
G#m C#m B
what do you think this woman’s made of?
A F#m
i stuck a small , thin pin in my thumb .
C#m B C#m B
they dreamt a low , long line to be crossed – –
A
and i crossed it .

chorus :
B C#m
i’m alive , but a different kind of alive
B C#m B A
than the way i used to be .
B C#m
i retire to a split white smile to be seen
B C#m B A
in an old stag magazine .

( verse )
and this girl’s eyes ,
when they were roughly wrenched open , i
could see a starry stair up your thigh .
you hid behind your hair ( oh , but i
saw you were smiling ) ,

( chorus )
B C#m
while all these guys , all these curious sets of eyes ,
B C#m B A
safe behind a tv screen ,
B C#m
i let them pry , pick apart and hang up to dry
B C#m B A B C#m B A
almost every piece of me .
n . C .
( if you don’t love me , i’m sorry . )

interlude :
[ same as intro / verse ]

( verse )
oh , what a trip .
oh , what a shimmering silver ship .
oh , what a hot half – life i half – lived .
and the stripes and stars , how they stripped
off of the siding
when my life ripped
off from the part that played as a kid
into the part that blazed through your lids
to find a warm , safe place and to sit ,
curled up , inside it .

( chorus )
so here’s “goodbye , ” from the part that’s staying behind
to the part that has to leave ,
to the sublime lips that were never spoiled by a line ,
to the face inside the beam ,

outro :
B C#m B A
who wasn’t me .
B C#m B A
who wasn’t me , oh no no ,
B C#m B A
she’s not me , oh oh .