Joanna Newsom

	  		Sawdust & Diamonds By Joanna Newsom 
Dropped D tuning 
 

Em7		Cadd9 
From the top of the flight 
Em7		Cadd9 
Of the wide white stairs 
Em7		Cadd9 
Through the rest of my life 
Em7		Cadd9 
Do you wait for me there? 

Em7		Cadd9 
There's a bell in my ears 
Em7		Cadd9 
There's the wide white roar 
Em7		Cadd9 
Drop a bell down the stairs 
Em7		Cadd9 
Hear it fall forever more 
Em7		Cadd9 
Hear it fall forevermore 

G/D		Em7 

G/D		Em7 
Drop a bell off of the dock 
G/D		Em7 
Blot it out in the sea 
G/D		Em7 
Drowning mute as a rock 
G/D		Em7 
sounding mutiny 

G/D			 
There's a light in the wings, hits this system of strings, 
                            Em7 
from the side while they swing; 
See the wires, the wires, the wires. 

G/D	 
And the articulation in our elbows and knees 
Em7 
Makes us buckle and we couple in endless increase  
As the audience admires  

G/D  
And the little white dove 
Made with love, made with love 
Em7 
Made with glue and a glove and some pliers 

G/D  
Swings a low sickle arc from its perch in the dark 
Em7 
Settle down, settle down my desire 

D 
And the moment I slept 
C			G 
I was swept up in a terrible tremor 
D				C 
Though no longer bereft, how I shook 
                 Em7 
And i couldn't remember 
D 
And then the furthermost shake 
Am 
Drove a murdering stake in 
C		Em7		G 
And cleft me right down through my center 
D 
And I shouldn't say so 
C			Em7 
But I know that it was then or never 

G/D		Em7 
Push me back into a tree 
G/D		Em7 
Bind my buttons with salt 
G/D		Em7 
Fill my long ears with bees 
G/D		 
Braying 'please, please, please, 
		Em7 
Oh you ought not! 
No you ought not!' 

G/D  
And then the system of strings tugs on the tip of my wings 
                             Em7 
Cut from cardboard and old magazines 
Makes me warble and rise like a sparrow. 

G/D  
And in the place where I stood 
There is a circle of wood 
                         Em7 
A quarter to which you chop and you stack in your barrow 

G/D  
And it is terribly good 
To carry water and chop wood 
                          Em7 
Streaked with soot, heavy booted and wild-eyed 

G/D  
As I crash through the rafters 
And the ropes and the pulleys trail after 
                                        Em7 
And the holiest, holiest belfry burns sky high 

D 
And then a slow lip of fire 
Cadd9			G	 
Moves across the prairie with precision 
D 					Cadd9 
While somewhere with your pliers and glue 
                                     Em7	 
You make your first incision 
D			Am 
And in a moment of almost unbearable vision 
Cadd9 			Em7			G 
Doubled over with the hunger of lions 
D 
'Hold me close', cooed the dove 
          Cadd9				Em7 
Who was stuffed now with sawdust and diamonds 

Em7 		D   				G 

Asus 	Cadd  	G 
I wanted to say 'why the long face?' 
Asus	     Cadd9			G 
Sparrow perch and play songs of long face 
Asus      Cadd9		G 
Burro buck and bray songs of long face 
                     Am			Cadd9 
Sings 'i will swallow your sadness and eat your cold clay 
G 
Just to lift your long face 
Asus				Cadd9 
And though it may be madness, I will take to the grave 
G 
Your precious long face 
Asus 					Cadd9 
& though our bones they may break & our souls separate 
G 
Why the long face?  
			Asus		Cadd9 
And though our bodies recoil from the grip of the soil 
G 
Why the long face? 

G/D                             Em7 
In the trough of the waves 
G/D                             Em7 
Which are pawing like dogs 
G/D                             Em7 
Pitch we, pale-faced and grave 
G/D                             Em7 
As I write in my log. 
G/D                             Em7 
Then I hear a noise from the hull 
G/D                             Em7 
Seven days out to sea 
G/D                             Em7 
And it is the damnable bell 
G/D                              
And it tolls, I believe, that it tolls 
              Em7 
It tolls for me!         
And it tolls for me! 

G/D                              
And though my wrists and my waist 
Seem so easy to break 
              Em7 
Still my dear I would?ve walked you to the edge of the water 

G/D                              
And they will recognize all the lines of your face 
              Em7 
In the face of the daughter, of the daughter, of my daughter 

G/D                              
And darling we will be fine 
But what was yours and mine 
Em7 
Appears to be a sandcastle that the gibbering wave takes 

G/D                              
But if it's all just the same 
Then say my name, say my name, 
Em7 
in the morning so that i know when the wave breaks 

D 
I wasn't born of a whistle 
C			G 
Or milked from a thistle at twilight 
D 
No, i was all horns and thorns 
                    C					Em7 
Sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright 
D			Asus 
So enough of this terror we deserve to know light 
C		Em7		G 
And grow evermore lighter and lighter 
D		 
You would have seen me through 
C		Em7 
But I could not undo that desire 

D	C	Em7 
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh desire 
D	C	Em7 
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh desire 
D	C   	Em7 
Oh-oh, oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh desire  

Em7		Cadd9 
From the top of the flight 
Em7 		Cadd9 
Of the wide white stairs 
Em7 		Cadd9 
Through the rest of my life 
Em7 		Cadd9 
Do you wait for me there?