Sawdust & Diamonds — Joanna Newsom
Chords and lyrics for Sawdust & Diamonds by Joanna Newsom (key of C).
Verse 1
From the top of [C]the flight
[Em]Of the wide [C]white stairs
[Em]Through the rest[C] of my life
[Em]Do you wait for [C]me there?
[Em]There's a bell [C]in my ears
[Em]There's the wide[C] white roar
[Em]Drop a bell down[C] the stairs
[Em]Hear it fall [C]forever mor
[Em]Hear it fall [C]forevermore
Chorus
[G] [Em]
[G]Drop a bell off [Em]of the dock
[G]Blot it out in [Em]the sea
[G]Drowning mute as[Em] a rock
[G]sounding mutiny[Em]
[G]There's a light in the wings, hits this system of strings,
from the side while they [Em]swing;
See the wires, the wires, the wires.
Verse
[G]And the articulation in our elbows and knees
[Em]Makes us buckle and we couple in endless increase
As the audience admires
[G]And the little white dove
Made with love, made with love
[Em]Made with glue and a glove and some pliers
[G]Swings a low sickle arc from its perch in the dark
[Em]Settle down, settle down my desire
Chorus
[D]And the moment I slept
[C]I was swept up in a [G]terrible tremor
[D]Though no longer bereft, how I [C]shook
And i couldn't [Em]remember
[D]And then the furthermost shake
[Am]Drove a murdering stake in
[C]And cleft me [Em]right down through[G] my center
[D]And I shouldn't say so
[C]But I know that it was [Em]then or never
[G]Push me back [Em]into a tree
[G]Bind my buttons [Em]with salt
[G]Fill my long [Em]ears with bees
[G]Braying 'please, please, please,
Oh you ought [Em]not!
No you ought not!'
[G]And then the system of strings tugs on the tip of my wings
Cut from cardboard and old [Em]magazines
Makes me warble and rise like a sparrow.
[G]And in the place where I stood
There is a circle of wood
A quarter to which you [Em]chop and you stack in your barrow
[G]And it is terribly good
To carry water and chop wood
Streaked with soot, heavy [Em]booted and wild-eyed
[G]As I crash through the rafters
And the ropes and the pulleys trail after
And the holiest, holiest belfry burns [Em]sky high
Verse
[D]And then a slow lip of fire
[C]Moves across the prairie[G] with precision
While somewhere with your pliers and [C]glue
You make your first incision[Em]
[D]And in a moment of [A]almost unbearable vision
[C]Doubled over with the [Em]hunger of lions[G]
[D]'Hold me close', cooed the dove
Who was [C]stuffed now with sawdust and [Em]diamonds
Chorus
[Em] [D] [G]
[A]I wanted[C] to say[G] 'why the long face?'
[A]Sparrow perch[C] and play songs of long [G]face
[A]Burro [C]buck and bray [G]songs of long face
Sings 'i will swallow[Am] your sadness and [C]eat your cold clay
[G]Just to lift your long face
[A]And though it may be madness, I [C]will take to the grave
[G]Your precious long face
[A]& though our bones they may break & our [C]souls separate
[G]Why the long face?
And though our bodies [A]recoil from the [C]grip of the soil
[G]Why the long face?
Bridge
[G]In the trough of the waves[Em]
[G]Which are pawing like dogs[Em]
[G]Pitch we, pale-faced and grave[Em]
[G]As I write in my log.[Em]
[G]Then I hear a noise from the [Em]hull
[G]Seven days out to sea[Em]
[G]And it is the damnable bell[Em]
[G]And it tolls, I believe, that it tolls
It tolls for [Em]me!
And it tolls for me!
[G]And though my wrists and my waist
Seem so easy to break
Still my dear [Em]I would've walked you to the edge of the water
[G]And they will recognize all the lines of your face
In the face of[Em] the daughter, of the daughter, of my daughter
[G]And darling we will be fine
But what was yours and mine
[Em]Appears to be a sandcastle that the gibbering wave takes
[G]But if it's all just the same
Then say my name, say my name,
[Em]in the morning so that i know when the wave breaks
Chorus
[D]I wasn't born of a whistle
[C]Or milked from a thistle[G] at twilight
[D]No, i was all horns and thorns
Sprung out fully [C]formed, knock-kneed and upright[Em]
[D]So enough of this terror[A] we deserve to know light
[C]And grow [Em]evermore lighter and [G]lighter
[D]You would have seen me through
[C]But I could not [Em]undo that desire
Coda
[D]Oh-oh, [C]oh-oh-oh[Em] desire
[D]Oh-oh, [C]oh-oh-oh[Em] desire
[D]Oh-oh, [C][Em]oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh desire
[Em]From the top of [C]the flight
[Em]Of the wide [C]white stairs
[Em]Through the rest[C] of my life
[Em]Do you wait for [C]me there?
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