E those were the days of Elaine, that was the phrase that she used to describe D A E to her son, of the fun, she had had E long before he went away, long before days of the dull and the dregs D A E and the lull and the call never came C D E they say, oh oh oh oh oh [verse] E loitering lavendar park, laying about in the day and the dark D A E of a room while the noon passes by E always on verge of collapse, mother would quit and then suffer a lapse D A E from the drink you would think she was dead C D E but they say, oh oh oh oh oh C D E she says, oh oh oh oh oh C#m and the time that it takes B well it goes so slow C#m and she laid on the brakes B and she dove below A doesn't it go so slow G# A when you build it up to tear it down E you're tearin' down A you tear it down F# those were the days A those were the days of Elaine E E the days of Elaine D A E the days of Elaine [verse] E a lover like Alan Gulan, she followed him blind from saloon to salon D A E from the hills to the pills he would take E father died in the mines, brother showed no remorse for his times D when they strung him up A E he got all hung up on the scaffolding C D E but he says, oh oh oh oh oh C D E he says, oh oh oh oh oh [chorus] C#m and the time that it takes B well it goes so slow C#m and she laid on the brakes B and she dove below A doesn't it go so slow G# A when you build it up to tear it down E you're tearin' down A you tear it down F# those were the days A those were the days of Elaine E E the days of Elaine D A E the days of Elaine