Chords for Brandi Carlile - The Mother - 7/21/18 - Thompson's Point

_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
[N] Thank you so much.
I've got my little daughters out here with me.
I've got my four-month-old,
_ Elijah _ Carlisle.
[Ab] _ _ _ _ [G] And I've got my [N] four-year-old, Evangeline.
We saw her _ _ _ smiley face.
Did you
see how much she smiled? _ _ _
_ She _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ does what she wants. _ _ _
We _ were looking for shells today on
the beach.
Man, you guys got some shells. _ _ _ _ _
It was almost stressing her out because she
couldn't leave any of them.
She's the armful.
_ I don't know what to do, Mom.
[Ab] _ _ _
I also have
[N] a wife, Catherine.
Catherine Carlisle. _ _ _
[Abm] _ _ _ [Db] _ _ _ [N] I think it's important.
I think it's more important
than ever.
And I say this every night because I think it's so important [Abm] to stand up in front
of you, even in a great place like Maine, and tell you about my family and our life
and [N] our community. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Abm] Thank _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [Db] _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] you so much.
_ _ _ _ _ [Db] _ _ [Eb] _
_ [B] I found it hard when Evangeline, my first daughter,
was born.
My wife carried her, [N] and I didn't carry her.
And _ _ it's almost like sometimes
being a gay parent.
I know it's [Db] not new, and I don't want to take anything away from the
generation and two generations before [B] me that [Abm] started parenting kids in the LGBTQ
[N] community because they're the real pioneers.
They took a lot of heat.
_ _ But I feel like those
of us that are doing it right now are doing it without very much of a template.
I only
have my mom and [Db] dad as an example.
I just wasn't ready when she was _ [Ab] born.
And it wasn't
an accident, [Db] so I didn't have much of an excuse.
But _ _ _ _ _ so many [N] people had told me I would
be ready and that you get this unbelievable, overwhelming feeling of just _ this natural
[Abm] understanding of what it means to be a parent.
And when I [B] didn't have it, I worried that
I was a [N] sociopath or that something was wrong with me. _
And I kept it to myself for a couple
of months until my love for Evangeline grew inside of me and overtook who I was.
But the
fact that it wasn't immediate brought me immediate shame.
And the more I talked about
that with people, the more they were like, oh, yeah, no, me too.
I felt like that.
_ _ So
I thought, well, shit, if we were just a little bit [Db] more honest about that, just give it some
thought, you know, _ _ that parenting isn't the easiest [Ab] thing in the world. _
And now [N] we're
all like, no, come on in.
The water's warm.
Even I'm doing it.
Have kids, have many kids,
don't borrow and [B] multiply.
_ [Ab] _ I wrote this [N] song because I wanted to tell the truth about that.
And I thought that this
song was going to be about me being a gay mom.
But it turns out that this song, I feel
universally applies to gay moms, straight moms, gay [Ab] dads, trans dads, straight dads,
trans moms.
_ _ [Bb] _
This is about _ [Ab] Evangeline.
But [N] really, it's about everybody's Evangeline.
It's called the [Bb] mother.
[Bbm] _ _ _
_ _ [Eb] _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _
_ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ Welcome to the end of being alone inside your mind.
You're [Db] tethered to another [Ab] and you
worry all the time. _
[Eb] You always know the melody, [Ab] but you never heard it right.
[Bbm] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ She's fair
and she is quiet.
Lord, she doesn't look like me.
She [Db] made me love the morning.
She's [Ab] a
_ _ see the [Eb] New York streets are as busy as they [Bbm] always used to be. _
[Ab] _ But I am the mother of
[Eb] _
Evangeline.
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ The first things that she took from me were selfishness and sleep.
She [Db] broke
a thousand heirlooms I [Ab] was never meant to keep.
She [Eb] filled my life with cover, [Ab] canceled
plans and [Bbm] trashed my car. _
[Ab] None of that was ever who we [Eb] are. _ _
_ _ [Ab] Outside of my windows are
the mountains and the snow.
I hold you [Db] while you're sleeping [Ab] and I wish that I could go
_ [Eb] on the road.
_ _ _ [Db] [Ab] Accomplishing their [Bbm] dreams.
_ [Ab] But I am the mother of _ [Eb] _
Evangeline.
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ And they still
[Eb] have their _ _ _ [Ab] coffee and their time.
And [Eb] they still enjoy with _ [Ab] the skeptics and the wine.
[C] Oh, but all the wonders I had seen, [Ab] I will see a [Bbm] second time.
_ _ _ [Ab] From inside of the ages through your eyes.
[Eb] _ _ _ _
[Ab] And you are not some accident where no one thought
through the world [Db] that stood against us, made [Ab] us mean to fight for you.
[Eb] And when we chose you, we knew [Ab] that you'd fight the power to.
[Bbm] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ You're nothing short of magical
and beautiful to me.
Oh, never [Db] hit the big time [Ab] without you.
[Abm] _ _ _ So [Eb] they can keep their treasure
and [Db] their ties to [Ab] the machine.
_ Because I am the mother of [Eb] _ [Fm] Evangeline. _
_ _ _ [Ab] [Db] They can keep their [Ab] treasure and their [Bbm] ties to the machine.
_ _ [Abm] _
_ [Bbm] Yeah, [Ab] _ I am the mother of [Eb] _ _ [Ab] Evangeline. _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bbm] _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bbm] _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Fm] _ _ [N] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _