@Mountain Goats
"Source Decay" - written by john darnielle
tabbed by Russ Sweetser
ruxxell@comcast.net
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E--A--E---A
E
Once a week I make the drive
F#                          A
two hours east to check the Austin post office box.
E                      F#
I take the detour through our old neighborhood,
                A                         B
see all the Chevy Impalas in their front yards up on blocks,
       A                      B
and I park in an alley and I read through the postcards
          E               A
that you continue to send:
          F#                        A
where as indirectly as you can you ask what I remember.
               E                      B
I like these torture devices from my old best friend.
           C#
Well I'll tell you what I know
         F#
like I swore I always would --
         A                 B
I don't think it's gonna do you any good:
     E          A             E           A       B     A         E
I remember the train headed south out of Bangkok down toward the water.

A E A E



E
I always get a late start,
          F#
when the sun's going down
         A
and the traffic's thinning out
         E
and the glare is hard to take. I wish the
E                        F#
West Texas highway was a M?bius strip --
         A                           B
I could ride it out forever. When I feel my heart break,
          A                                 B
I almost swear I hear it happen, it's that clear and that hard.
   E                             A
I come in off the highway and I park in my front yard.
   C#
I fall out of the car
        F#
like a hostage from a plane,
A
think of you a while and
       B
start wishing it would rain.
E              A            E            A       B     A         E
I remember the train headed south out of Bangkok down toward the water.

A E A E

  E
I come into the house,
     F#
put on a pot of coffee,
A                       E
walk the floors a little while.
E                                  F#
I set the postcard on a table with all the others like it,
A                         B
start sorting through the pile.
A
I check the pictures and the postmarks
         B
and the captions and the stamps
     E                       A
for signs of any pattern at all.
        F#                                 A
When I come up empty-handed, the feeling almost overwhelms me.
E                 B
I let a few of my defenses fall
        C#                              F#
and I smile a bitter smile -- it's not a pretty thing to see --
         A                                 B
I think about a railroad platform back in 1983
       E            A           E             A       B
A                 E
and I remember the train headed south out of Bangkok down toward toward
the water