Chords for Harry Chapin - Stranger With the Melodies

_ _ _ _ _ _ _
This band is crazy tonight.
I _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ [Em] _ _
thought I was.
[A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ [D] It was my first night in that rooming [G] house
In the last room down the [Em] hall
I heard a horse voice and an old [A] guitar
Coming through the paper-thin wall
[D] _ Crazy nonsense nursery [G] rhyme
It did not [Em] mean a thing
But for the first of what was to be a thousand [F#m] times
[A] This is what I heard him sing
[D] Hold that D, Lord, on the old [G] guitar
Till I found [Em] the G
Drop it down to only minor
[A] Till the acorn rolls back home [D] around the D _ _
I _ _ had to [Bm] lay [D] there listening
[F#m] It seemed [F#m] he was in the room
[D] [Em] This stranger with his melody
[A] Singing there in the gloom
[A#] And he repeated it over and over again
[F] Such a soft and sinking [Am] sound
It was kind of like a music box
[G] That was slowly winding [C] down
[F] You see he sang it, he hummed it
[Em] Whistled it and he strummed it
[G] He laughed it and [Em] he cried it
He did not [A] mean a thing but hide it
And he sang
[D] Hold that D, Lord, on the [Am] old [G] guitar
Till I found the [E] G
Drop it [Em] down to only minor
[A] Till the acorn [F#m] rolls back [A] home [C] around the D
[Bm] _ [Em] _ [D] _ [A] So _ [D] [A] I lay [D] there in [A] that lumpy [G] bed
[A] Counting choruses [G] instead of [Em] sheets
Till [A] I banged on [Em] the wall and out I [A] called
Hey, bub, I need some [Dm] sleep
A sudden void of [G] silence
Then I heard that horse boy [E] say
It weren't [G] so long [A] ago, boy
They [G] paid me to play
_ _ [A] _ _ I [D] said it's kind of late for music, sir
[F#m] Two hours till it's daylight
[Em] He answered, I need my music most
[A] In these dark hours of the night
[A#] You see I've tried getting high on something, [F] son
But it only brings me down
[Am] Staying dry don't work out better, boy
[Em] Cause my eyes get [E] wet and I drown
[F] Won't you please let me continue
[Em] And I'll be in your debt
[G] You see I'm not singing [Em] to remember, [A] son
I'm just singing to forget
_ [F#m] And [Em] he sang
[D] Hold that D, Lord, on the old guitar
[G] Till I found the [Em] G
Drop it down to old E minor
[A] Till the acorn rolls back home [C] around for [G] me
[Em] _ [A] _ _ That's [C] when I said
[Bm] If I'm supposed to listen [A] to you, sir
Just one quick [G] question, then
_ [F] Why in the [E] hell do you sing one [A] song
Over and over again
And this is what he [D] said _ _ _ _ _
_ He said, I gave her the [A] music, son
She gave [G] me the [Em] words
Together we'd write the kind of [B] songs
[D] The angels [A] must have [Em] heard
[D] Of course we'd fight like cats and [G] dogs
But life ain't no rosebud [Bm] dream
Still whatever we do Everybody [A] knew
[D] We truly [A] were a team
[D] I can't remember now
If I done her wrong
[F#m] Or if she done wrong to me
[Em] But all I know is when I let her [A] go
That it did not set me [A#] free
That's when I said
You sound like what's his [F] name
He said, that's who I am
[Am] But you can't wrap a name around your [Em] boy
Cause it really [C] don't mean [E] a [F] damn
You see a song don't have much meaning
[Em] When it don't have nothing to say
[G] What she could do [Em] was magic, son
All I could do was [A] play
_ He _ [D] started singing again
That's when I drifted off
[F#m] Maybe I dreamed [A] what I heard
[Em] About the stranger with his melody
[A] Who'd gone and lost the words
[D] Hold that D chord on the [G] old guitar
Till I found the G
Till you [Em] find the G
Drop it down to old E minor
[A] Till the A chord rolls back on around [D] to D _ _ _ _
_ _ [C#] _ [E] _ _ _ _ _