Homecoming (Walter's Song)
Vienna Teng
(Warm Strangers – 2004)


Intro:  E A E 
        B A E

E            A                    E
 It's desert ice outside but this diner has thawed my ears
    B               A                 E                       B
Hot coffee in a clean white mug and a smile when the waitress hears
           Ab                C#m          A                  E
That I was born in North Carolina, not an hour from her home town
       F#m                   A             B
And we used to play the same pizza parlor pinball

              E                 A           E 
And there's a glance in time suspended as I wonder how it is
           B                A               E                B
We've been swept up just by circumstance to where the coyote lives
         Ab                 C#m                A             E
Where my days are strips of highway, and she's wiping tables down
        F#m          A                B
Holding on and still waiting for that windfall

    E A          E
But I...'ve come home
     B                 A             E
Even though I've never had so far to go
E A          E B/D# C#m F#m A B
I...'ve come ho.............me

E                    A                       E
 I pay the check and leave the change from a crumpled ten-dollar bill
      B                      A          E               B
Head across the street where VACANCY is burning in neon still
         Ab               C#m                    A             E
Well the night eats up my body heat, and there's no sign of another
      F#m                  A             B
And I find myself slipping down into that black

E               A                      E
 But things are good I've got a lot of followers of my faith
           B           A             E                B
I've got a whole congregation living in my head these days
        Ab                 C#m       Ab             C#m      B
And I'm preaching from the pulpit to cries of "Amen brother"
A                                    B
Closing my eyes to feel the warmth come back

    E A          E
But I...'ve come home
     B                   A              E
Even though I swear I've never been so alone
    E A          E B/D# C#m F#m A B
Yet I...'ve come ho.............me

                  Ab            C#m              A         E
I just want to be living as I'm dying, just like everybody here
             B              A          B            E
Just want to know my little flicker of time is worthwhile
      Ab                   C#m               A                E
And I don't know where I'm driving to, but I know I'm getting old
              F#                            A  B
And there's a blessing in every moment every mile

E A E
B A E

E                A                  E    
Thin white terry bars of soap and a couple little plastic cups
    B                    A                         E           B
Old Gideons Bible in the nightstand drawer saying "Go on open up"
          Ab                C#m                   A                 E
Well I'll kneel down on the carpet here, though I never was sure of God
        F#m                     A              B
Think tonight I'll give Him the benefit of the doubt

  E                          A                      E
I switch off the lights and imagine that a waitress outlined in the bed
         B            A           E                  B
Her hair falling all around me, I smile and shake my head
        Ab                C#m             A                E
Well we all write our own endings, and we all have our own scars
      F#m             A                  B
But tonight I think I see what it's all about

      E A          E
Cause I...'ve come home
B    A    E
Ooooooooooooooh
E A    E B/D# C#m  F#m A  B          E
I...   I.........  I....  I've come home