• Song:

    This Strange Engine

  • Artist:

    Marillion

  • Album:

    Size Matters

D5                                   F5                          D5        F5 
There was a boy who came into this world at the hands of a holy woman in a holy place 
          D5                            F5                               D5            F5 
He wore a red coat and walked a bulldog,  saw them reflected in the mirror of the lakes 
             D5                                   F5 
Lived in the shadow of the mountains with the smells of disinfectant 
      D5                                           F5 
Dusty old leather and the polished wood of his bed 
               D5                              F5 
No more than a baby feeding swans on the river,  holding the hands of his mother 
        C5                            G5     F5  C5  G5 
And the wax paper bag of yesterday's bread 


        F5                                   C5 G5                                      F5 
And his father on the other side of the world on the ship's railings and some far away tide 
           C5                         G5                         F5           C5 
With the silent dry tear of home thoughts from abroad in his far away eyes 
       G5          F5  (N.C.)  F5  C5  Eb5  Bb5 
In his far away eyes 


F5                             C5           Eb5                         Bb5 
  The smell of the wax on the wooden floor,   mixture of polish and soap 
F5                             C5      Eb5                      Bb5 
  No children to fear or to play with,   rows of empty hooks for the coats 
   F5                      C5               Eb5                                    Bb5 
An upright piano and the boys in the choir    still remind him of just before he was born 
F5                           C5               Eb5                           Bb5 
  Remind him of just before he was breathing,   strange misty visions of God 
F5                        C5     Eb5                   Bb5 
  Turn the cities into families,   into villages of souls 
F5                       C5                   Eb5                        Bb5 
  Hovering in the air while they're sleeping,   with their houses invisible 
F5                        C5          Eb5            (N.C.) 
  Send to me the ghosts of Christmas,   whispering,     "You're the only one" 

Measure 1: 

e- | ----------------------------- |  
B- | ----------------------------- |  
G- | ----------------------------- |  
D- | -1-3-------1-3-------1-0----- |  
A- | -------------------------3-1- |  
E- | -----1-1-1-----1-1-1--------- |  

1                         1                         1 
  And ever since I was a boy, I never felt that I belonged 
                             1                   1 
Like everything they did to me was an experiment   to see 
                             1                                 1 
How I would cope with the illusion, in which direction would I jump 
                       1                         1 
Would I do it all the same as the actors in the game 
                           Bb5                                   F5 
Or would I spit it back at them and not get caught up in their rules 
                         Bb5                   F5 
And live according to my own and not be used, not be used 
                        Eb5                             Bb5 
To find the fundamental truths, it was gonna take some time 
                             Ab5                               F#5 
Thirty-five summers down the line, the wisdom of each passing year 
                          Ab5                              F5 
Seems to serve only to confuse, seems to serve only to confuse 


Eb5  Bb5  F5  F#5  Ab5  F5  Eb5  Bb5  Ab5  F#5  Ab5  1  1  1  1  1  1  F5  Eb5  Bb5  F5  F#5  Ab5 

(N.C.)  F#5  Ab5  G5  C5  D5  F5 

G5                       C5                D5                 F5 
   Daddycame out of the navy and took us away to his dirty grey home town 
G5                      C5                     D5                       F5 
   And he worked down a coal mine for National Service so that he could be around 
G5             C5             D5                        F5                 G5         C5  D5  F5 
   There was a magical purple    in the chrome of the exhaust of his Triumph motor bike 
                G5            C5                            D5     F5   G5     C5  D5 
And a warmth of oil and metal    and the thrill of the hard corner holding tight 


            G5 C5                   D5          F5 
From the horizon came home from the Navy to the mine 
G5             C5        D5     F5 
   From the horizon to buried alive 
     G5         C5      D5 
Took his dream underground 
           F5           G5      C5  D5   F5 
Buried his treasure in his faraway eyes 


D5                    C5                       F5             G5               D5     C5  F5  G5 
   And one day as the boy lay sleeping in the sunshine of a half-remembered afternoon 
D5                            C5                  F5                 G5 
   A cloud of bees with no particular aim and no brain found the boy 
                 D5         C5  F5  G5 
Decided that his time had come 
D5                       C5   F5                     G5            D5 
   Came down out of the sky, stung him in the face   again and again 
              C5                   F5              G5 
Blue pain, screaming like baptism ,  intravenous, Jesus 
              D5  C5                      F5       G5 
Like being chosen   from something with no brain,  blue pain 
D5                 C5    F5                 G5    D5  C5  F5  G5  D5  C5  F5  G5  D5  C5  F5  G5  D5  C5  F5  G5 
   It's happening again,  it's happening again 


A5  D5  E5  G5  A5  D5  E5  G5  A5  D5  E5  G5  D5  A5  G5  F5  A5  F5  A5  E5  C5  D5  E5  C5  D5 

E5            C5               D5 
   Oh, Mummy, Daddy, will you sit a while with me? 
E5            C5               D5 
   Oh, Mummy, Daddy, will you jog my memory? 
        E5               C5       D5 
Tell me    tall tales of Montego Bay, Table Mountain, flying fish 
E5        C5              D5               E5     C5    D5 
   Banana spiders, pots of paint and the sun on the Equator 
             E5       C5              D5 
Setting like an ember thrown to deep water 
  E5      C5       D5 
From crimson to black 
E5         C5  D5 
But coming back tomorrow 


E5  D5           E5 D5  E5  D5  C5  D5  E5  D5  E5  D5  E5  D5  C5  D5 
      On the horizon 


E5  D5  E5  D5  E5  D5  C5  D5  E5  D5  E5  D5  E5  D5  C5  D5 

E5          C5    D5  E5         C5                      D5 
   The blue pain    fades to a point where it doesn't fade 
   E5  C5  D5  E5   C5  D5 
It stayed       blue 
    E5          C5        D5             E5    C5    D5 
And stirred his red coat heart to this    strange engine 
E5     C5  D5       E5   A5       G5   D5 
This love,  this love,  this love 
          E5          A5       G5               D5 
This inconvenient, blind blood-diamond, this puzzle 
      E5           A5       G5               D5                    E5 
This love, this blind blood-diamond, this puzzle, I don't understand 
       A5      G5           D5        E5          A5    G5 
That knows no faith and tries and fails and tries again 
       D5       E5        A5            G5       D5         E5 
Stares at the sea, the night's dark deep for one last time 
      A5          G5         D5        E5 
And bleeds and bleeds and dies for you 
     A5       G5       D5       E5     A5     
And lies and is to blame and is ashamed 
       G5        D5        E5 
And is not the same and is true 
 A5        G5        D5        E5        A5        G5        D5        E5 
Is true, is true, is true, is true, is true, is true, is true, is true
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