Chords for James Keelaghan - Kiri's Piano - Listen Up

_ A song like Curie's Piano, _ in a sense, ruined writing about history for me because _
[G] _ I think
that's the best thing that I've ever written in a historical vein.
I think when I wrote that song, when I wrote from that point of view and was able to empathize
with that point of view as much as I was able to do, I sort of look at it and go, _ oh, it's
going to be hard to top that.
It's going to be hard to take this.
_ _ _ _ It's going to be hard right now to take this any further _ _ as a form of discourse.
And so I think I just want to lay [Em] it aside for a [F] while as a form of discourse [F#] and try
[E] some other things.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C#m] _ _ [F#m] _ [A] _ _ _
[E] _ _ _ [B] _ _ [C#m] _ _ _
[G#m] _ [F#] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ [E] _ _ [B] _ _ _ [E] _ _
[B] _ _ [C#] _ _ [F#m] _ _ [A] _ _
_ [E] _ _ [B] _ I'm going to play [C#m] the notes and [B] scales [F#] for her dear [A] sons and daughters.
_ _ _ _ [B] And me, I [E] played piano, [G#m] _ _ [C#m] _
but not [F#m] as good [A] as Curie.
_ _ [E] She [B] went in for [C#m] that long-haired [F#] stuff, but my, she played it [A] pretty.
_ _ [E] _
The old piano had a [G#m] tone [C#m] that set my [F#m] heart to waking.
_ _ [E] _
[B] It always [C#m] sounded sweetest, though, [F#] when it was Curie [A] playing. _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ [B] _ _ _
_ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _ _
That [E] December, when the Seventh [B] Fleet [C#m] was turned to smoke and [A] ashes, _ [E] _ [B] the order came
[C#m] to _ confiscate [F#] their fishing boats [A] and caches.
_ [E] _ _ [B] Curie's [E] husband forced to [B] go [C#m] and work in [F#m] labor [A] camps.
_ _ [E] _ _ [B] Curie [E] left alone to [F#] fend and hold the port [A] as best she can.
_ _ _ But the [E] music did not drift as [B] often [C#m] from [F#] up the [A] cove at Curie's house.
[E] _
And when it did, it sounded _ [F#] haunted, played with worry, [A] played with doubt. _ _
_ [E] _ For Curie knew that soon she, [B] too, [C#] would be [F#] compelled [A] to leave.
_ [E] And the old upright would [C#m] stay [E] behind, [F#] and Curie, she would [A] _
grieve.
[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
[Bm] _ _ _ [B] _ _ [E] _ I loaded Curie on the [B] bus, _ [C#m] stoic _ [A] _ internees.
_ _ [E] [B] The crime that they [C#m] were guilty of was [F#] that they were not like [A] me.
_ _ [E] And if I was ashamed, [B] I [C#m] didn't know it at [F#m] the [A] time.
_ They [E] were [B] flotsam [C#m] on the wave of war.
[F#] They were no friends [A] of mine.
And _ _ _ [E] I went up to [B] Curie's house [C#m] _ to [F#m] tag [A] all their belongings,
[E] _ [B] send them out [E] for _ auctioneers, [F#] claim them in [A] the morning.
_ _ [E] _ [B] One piece that I [E] thought [G#m] I'd keep and [C#m] hold back [F#m] for [A] myself
_ [E] was that [B] haunting [C#m] ivory upright _ [F#] that Curie played [A] so well.
But _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ [B] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _ _
_ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _ [E] _ _
[B] Curie [E] had not left it [B] there _ [C#m]
for me to [F#m] take [A] as plunder.
_ [E] _ _
[B] She'd rolled it [C#m] down onto the dock [B] [F#m] and gone into the [A] harbor.
_ _ [E]
The [B] old upright [E] in the [B] stranger's hands [C#m] was [F#m] a thought she [A] couldn't bear.
_ [E] _
[B] So she [C#m] consigned it to the sea [F#] to settle the affair.
[A] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ So many years had come [B] and gone _ [C#m] since _ [F#m]
[A] Curie's _ relocation.
[E] I [B] look back now [E] upon that time [F#] with shame and [A] resignation.
_ _ [E] _ [B] But Curie [E] knew what I did [G#m] not, [C#m] that if we must be [A] free,
_ [E] then sometimes [B]
we [C#m] must sacrifice [F#] to gain our [A] dignity. _ _ _ _ _
[E] _ Yes, Curie [B] knew [E] what I did [B] not, [C#m] that if we must [A] be free, _
[E] then [B] sometimes we [C#m] must sacrifice _ [F#] to gain [A] our dignity.
_ _ _ _ _ _ [E] _
_ _ _ _ _ Because when I write, it's very much a, _ _ [G#] you know, think about it for two weeks,
and then out comes the pen and the whole song gets written,
and very rarely has anything changed _ _ from the first draft of the song.
And when I look back on what I wrote, you know,
the things that the character in the song says,
where he's just gone through _ three verses describing this woman,
_ describing the piano, describing the way she plays the piano, _ _
describing [N] how the music that she played changed
after her husband was taken away at first.
And then as he gets down to, you know, where _ he's going to go up
and, _ you know, tag all their belongings, he says,
they're no friends of mine.
You know, that he can stand there and he can deny that these people
that he knows so much about, that this woman whose music he loves,
that _ _ they're his neighbors and everything else,
but at the essential moment where he's got to go in
and he's got to destroy their life, sorry, they're no friends of mine.
_ You know, well, what are friends?
What are neighbors?
What are all these things?
And it wasn't until about three months after I wrote the song
that I was looking at it and found that I had actually, _ you know,
written that and said that.
And that to me is even more so than, you know, the end of the song
where he realizes that, you know, sacrifice is the thing that's essential
in order to gain freedom.
For me, the most important thing in that song is where he says that,
_ _ because that's the essential thing that allows people to do that,
that allows them to deny the fact that they know somebody else,
that allows them to deny the fact that these people have affected their lives
and therefore allows them to go in and steal their property
or to, you know, tramp on their rights.
_ That to me is the essential point in this song. _