EmDEm
I tell it as I best know how
EmDEm
And that's the way it was told to me
EmG
Must have once been a thief or a whore
GFEbB7
Then surely was thrown overboard
B7
Where, they say
EmDEmD
I came their way from the deep blue sea
EmDEm
It picked me up and tossed me round
EmDEm
I lost my shoes and tore my gown
Em
I forgot my name
G
And drowned
GFEbB7
Then woke up with the surf a-pounding;
B7EmDEmD
It seemed I had been run aground
EmD
Well they took me in and shod my feet
ACBb
And taught me prayers for chastity
FCBb
And said my name would be Colleen, and
DmGAB7
I was blessed among all women
B7EmDEm
To have forgotten everything
EmEmEmDEmEmEmEmDEm
[Verse 2]
EmDEm
And as the weeks and months ensued
EmDEm
I tried to make myself of use
EmG
I tilled and planted, but could not produce--
GFEbB7
Not root, nor leaf, nor flower, nor bean; Lord!
EmDEm
It seemed I overwatered everything
EmD
And I hate the sight of that empty air
ACBb
Like stepping for a missing stair
FCBb
And falling forth forever blindly:
DmGAB7
Cannot grab hold of anything! No
EmDEm
Not I, most blessed among Colleens
EmEmEmDEmEmEmEmDEm
[Verse 3]
EmDEm
I dream some nights of a funny sea
EmDEm
As soft as a newly born baby
EmG
It cries for me so pitifully!
GFEbB7
And I dive for my child with a wildness in me
EmDEm
And am so sweetly there received
EmD
But last night came a different dream:
ACBb
A gray and sloping-shouldered thing
FCBb
Said "What's cinched 'round your waist, Colleen?
DmGAB7
Is that my very own baleen?
B7EmDEm
No! Have you forgotten everything?"
EmEmEmDEmEmEmEmDEm
[Verse 4]
EmDEm
This morning, 'round the cape at dawn
EmDEm
Some travellers sailed into town
EmG
With scraps for sale and the saddest songs
GFEbB7
And a book of pictures, leather-bound, that
EmDEm
Showed a whale with a tusk a metre long
EmD
I asked the man who showed it me
ACBb
"What is the name of that strange beast?"
FCBb
He said its name translated roughly to
DmGAB7EmDEm
He-Who-Easily-Can-Curve-Himself-Against-The-Sky
D
And I am without words
ACBb
He said "My lady looks perturbed
FCBb
(the light is in your eyes, Colleen)."
DmGAB7
I said, "Whatever can you mean?"
B7
He leaned in and said
EmDEm
"You ain't forgotten everything."
EmEmEmDEmEmEmEmDEm
[Verse 5]
EmEmDEmEmEmDEmEmDEm
"You dare to speak a lady's name?"
EmDEm
He said, "My lady is mistaken
EmG
I would not speak your name in this place;
GFEbB7
For if I were to try then the wind--I swear--
EmDEm
Would rise, to tear you clean from me without a trace."
EmD
"Have you come, then, to rescue me?"
ACBb
He laughed and said, "From what, 'colleen'?
FCBb
You dried and dressed most willingly
DmGAB7
You corseted, and caught the dread disease
EmDEm
By which one comes to know such peace."
EmD
Well, it's true that I came to know such things as
ACBb
The laws that govern property
FCBb
And the herbs to feed the babes that wean
DmGAB7
The welting weight for every season;
B7
But still
EmDEm
I don't know any goddamned "Colleen"
EmEmEmDEmEmEmEmDEm
[Verse 6]
EmD
Then dive down there with the lights to lead
ACBb
That seem to shine from everything--
FCBb
Down to the bottom of the deep blue sea;
DmGAB7
Down where your heart beats so slow
EmDEm
And you never in your life have felt so free
D
Will you come down there with me?
ACBb
Down where our bodies start to seem like
FCBb
Artifacts of some strange dream
DmGAB7
Which afterwards you can't decipher
Em
And so, soon, have forgotten
DEm
Everything
[Outro from "...thing"]
EmDACBbFCBbDmGAmB7EmDACBbFCBbDmGAmB7EmDACBbD