1988


Capo 2

RIFF 1 (built on A chord):

   A                          F#m          
e|-o----------------------------2---------------|
B|-2----------------------------2---------------|
G|-2--4p2-----------------------2---------------|
D|-2-------4p2------------------4---------------|
A|-o-----------4p0-0-4-4-2-4-0--4---------------|
E|-x----------------------------2--0h2-0h2------|

   A                          F#m          
e|-o-----------------------------2--------------|
B|-2-----------------------------2--------------|
G|-2--4p2------------------------2--------------|
D|-2-------4p2-------------------4--------------|
A|-o------------4p0-0-4-4-2-4-0--4--------------|
E|-x-----------------------------2--0h2-0h2-----|

INTRO

A (RIFF 1) F#m	E	

VERSE
A
There are four whole people in this house
A	F#m
And I'm the last one awake again
A
And tomorrow we'll be biting nails
A	E
And biting tongues to higher stakes again
D
And I'm thinking if I just don't sleep
A
The morning won't sneak up on me
D	E
As just another yesterday again


CHORUS
D	E
But I was brilliant for just one day
A	F#m
In 1988
D	
I didn't have to talk, I didn't have to think
E
They flushed my sins right down a sink
A	F#m
Ten fingers and ten toes, and you're okay
F#m	E
I think that's what they say
E
Well how about today?

A (RIFF 1) F#m

VERSE
I think the world has got my number
Oh my God, there's digits in my eyes
I think that I've been dancing 'round
The brightest rooms in a cellophane disguise
Everybody still remembers
Things that I said last September
Oh, but worst of all, so do I

CHORUS
But I was a stranger for just one day
Born with the cleanest slate
My mother loved me before she knew me
Gave me a name that didn't suit me
But hey that's okay
I've kept it anyway
What if I threw it away?

VERSE
And to me God's just a metaphor
A metaphor for everything that's strange
I take his name in vain a lot
But I'm not sure just what that means these days
Sometimes I wish that I were still religious
Along with a lot of other wishes
But I don't think that God would know my name

CHORUS
But I was forgiven for just one day
When I still knew how to pray
And all the words were etched in gold
On the little Bible that I stole
From my teacher in second grade
The one I didn't mean to take
Oh what would Jesus say?

CHORUS
D	E
Things were perfect for a time
F#m	A
In 1999
D
I was eleven years old, and we drove south
E
Yeah, down to my grandfather's house
A	F#m
And everything was fine
F#m	E
It was right before he died
E
We were all so goddamn fine

A (RIFF 1) F#m

E
We were all so goddamn fine.

A (RIFF 1) A


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