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Thin Blue Flame by Josh Ritter
Thin Blue Flame
Tuning:E A D G B E
Capo:1st fret
[Intro]
| C | F | C | F |
[Chorus]
C F
I became a thin blue flame
C F
Polished on a mountain range
C F
And over hills and fields I flew
C Am
Wrapped up in a royal blue
[Verse 1]
F
I flew over Royal City last night
C
A bullfighter on the horns of a new moon’s light
F
Caesar’s ghost I saw the war-time tides
C
The prince of Denmark’s father still and quiet
F
The whole world was looking to get drowned
C
Trees were a fist shaking themselves at the clouds
F
I looked over curtains and it was then that I knew
C
That only a full house gonna make it through
[Chorus]
C F
I became a thin blue wire
C F
That held the world above the fire
C F
And so it was I saw behind
C Am
Heaven’s just a thin blue line
[Verse 2]
F
If God’s up there he’s in a cold dark room
C
The heavenly host are just the cold dark moons
F
He bent down and made the world in seven days
C
And ever since he’s been a’walkin' away
F
Mixing with nitrogen in lonely holes
C
Where neither seraphim or raindrops go
F
I see an old man wandering the halls alone
C F
But only a full house gonna make a home
[Chorus]
C F
But I became a thin blue stream
C F
The smoke between asleep and dreams
C F
And in that clear blue undertow
C Am
I saw Royal City far below
[Verse 3]
F
Borders soft with refugees
C
Streets a’swimming with amputees
F
It’s a Bible or a bullet they put over your heart
C
It’s getting harder and harder to tell them apart
F
The days are nights and the nights are long
C
Beating hearts blossom into walking bombs
F
And those still looking in the clear blue sky for a sign
C
Get missiles from so high they might as well be divine
F
Now the dogs are howling at our door
C
Singing bout vengeance like it’s the joy of the Lord
F
Bringing justice to the enemies not the other way round
C
They’re guilty when killed and they’re killed where they’re found
F
If what’s loosed on earth will be loosed up on high
C
It’s a Hell of a Heaven we must go to when we die
F
Where even Laurel begs Hardy for vengeance please
C
The fat man is crying on his hands and his knees
F
Back in the peacetime he caught roses on the stage
C
Now he twists indecision takes bourbon for rage
Am
Lead pellets peppering aluminum
C
Halcyon, laudanum and Opium
Am
Sings kiss thee hardy this poisoned cup
C
His winding sheet is busy winding up
Am
In darkness he looks for the lights that have died
C
But you need faith for the same reasons that it’s so hard to find
Am
And this whole thing is headed for a terrible wreck
G
And like good tragedy that’s what we expect
| C | F | C | F |
| C | F | C | Am |
[Verse 4]
F
At night I make plans for a city laid down
C
Like the hips of a girl on the spring covered ground
F
Spirals and capitals like the twists of a script
C
Streets named for heroes that could almost exist
F
The fruit trees of Eden and the gardens that seem
C
To float like the smoke from the lithium dream
F
Cedar trees growing in the cool of the squares
C
The young women walking in the portals of prayer
F
And the future glass buildings and the past an address
C
And the weddings in pollen and the wine bottomless
F
And all wrongs forgotten and all vengeance made right
C
The suffering verbs put to sleep in the night
Am
The future descending like a bright chandelier
G
And the world just beginning and the guests in good cheer
Am
In Royal City I fell into a trance
G
Oh it’s hell to believe there ain’t a hell of a chance
| Am | G | Am | G |
| Am | G | Am | G |
| C | F | C | F |
[Chorus]
C F
I woke beneath a clear blue sky
C F
The sun a shout the breeze a sigh
C F
My old hometown and the streets I knew
C Am
Were wrapped up in a royal blue
[Verse 5]
F
I heard my friends laughing out across the fields
C
The girls in the gloaming and the birds on the wheel
F
The raw smell of horses and the warm smell of hay
C
Cicadas electric in the heat of the day
F
A run of Three Sisters and the flush of the land
C
And the lake was a diamond in the valley’s hand
F
The straight of the highway and the scattered out hearts
C
They were coming together they pulling apart
F
And angels everywhere were in my midst
C
In the ones that I loved in the ones that I kissed
F
I wondered what it was I’d been looking for up above
C
Heaven is so big there ain’t no need to look up
F
So I stopped looking for royal cities in the air
C
Only a full house gonna have a prayer
[Outro]
| C | F | C | F | x6
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