Chill Out Tent
The Hold Steady
Boys and Girls in America


Verse:  Strum power chords:

E (8x) D (8x) C (16x)

Chorus: G (8x) D (8x) C (16x)

Em                      D                C
There was a stage and a PA up in western Massachusetts
                                                            Em
And the kids came from miles around to get messed up on the music
                        D                       C
And she drove down from Boden with a carload of girlfriends

To meet some boys and maybe eat some mushrooms
Em
And they did and she got sick
              D
And now she's pinned and way too shaky
C
She don't wanna tell the doctor everything she's taken
Em                                     D
The paramedics hovered over her like a somber mourning family
C
They gave her activated charcoal, they flooded her with saline


(Her)
G                            D                      C
I got really hot and then I came to in the chillout tent
They gave me oranges and cigarettes

He was rough around the edges
He'd been to school, but never finished
He'd been to jail, but never prison
And it was his first day off in forever, man
The festival seemed like a pretty good plan
Cruise some chicks and get a suntan
And his friend gave him four, but said only take one
But then he got bored and he ended up taking all four
Ah, so now my man ain't that bored anyways
The paramedics found him, he was shaking on the side of the stage

(Him)
Everything was spinning and I came to in the chillout tent
They gave me oranges and cigarettes

(Her)
I got really hot and then I came to in the chillout tent

(Both)
They gave us oranges and cigarettes

She looked just like a baby bird, all new and wet and trying to light a Parliament
He quoted her some poetry, he's Tennyson in denim and sheepskin
He looked a lot like Izzy Stradlin
They started kissing when the nurses took off their IVs
It was kinda sexy, but it was kinda creepy
Their mouths were fizzy with the cherry cola
They had the privacy of bedsheets
And all the other kids were mostly in comas

(Her)
He was kinda cute, we kinda kicked it in the chillout tent
And I never saw that boy again."

(Him)
She was pretty cool, we kinda kicked in the chillout tent
And I never saw that girl again

(Her)
He was kinda cute, we kinda kicked it in the chillout tent
And I never saw that boy again

(Him)
She seemed pretty cool, we kinda kicked it in the chillout tent
And I never saw that girl again