Thought he had the red lights memorized
Glass in the gravel like the stars in the sky
In that slow motion minute between living and dead
Looked in my eyes and he told me, he said

This war that I wage to get up every day
It’s a fiberglass boat, it’s azaleas in May
It’s the women I love and the law that I hate
Lord let me die in the Iodine State
Lord let me die in the Iodine State

(During the last part of the chorus, mimic the vocal melody with something like this:

|————————————————-|
|———5–5h7-5~——————————-|
|—–s6————-6s–2–4-2-4-2~————–|
|————————————————-|
|————————————————-|
|————————————————-|

Palmetto rose in the sidewalk mud
Pearly white stem and a big green bud
Catch him coming out of a King Street store
Bullsht story about the Civil War

You can believe what you want to believe
But there ain’t no making up a basket weave
Everybody in the tri-county knows
Who makes the best palmetto rose

This war that I wage to get up every day
It’s a fiberglass boat, it’s azaleas in May
It’s the women I love and the law that I hate
Lord let me die in the Iodine State
Lord let me die in the Iodine State

|————————————————-|
|———5–5h7-5~——————————-|
|—–s6————-6s–2–4-2-4-2~————–|
|————————————————-|
|————————————————-|
|————————————————-|

Violin: F#m E D A

Out on Sullivan’s Island, they’re swimming
On the beach where the big boats rolled in
With the earliest slaves, women and children
Our first American kin

Here on King Street we’re selling our roses
Two for a five dollar bill
And tonight after everything closes
I’ll follow my own free will

And I’ve taken my fill
I’ve taken my fill

e|-2---0--|---------------|------------|----------------------------------------|
B|-3---3--|--0h1-1-0-----0|----1-0-----|--0h3-3-3-3-----------------------------|
G|-2---2--|--0h2-----2-0--|0-0-----2-0-|--0h2-2-4-2-----------------------------|
D|-0---0--|--0h2----------|0h2---------|--0-0-0-0-0-----------------------------|
A|--------|--0-0----------|0h2---------|----------------------------------------|
E|--------|---------------|0-0---------|----------------------------------------|

Pictures of the farm before us
Old men in a gospel chorus
Sepia and saddle horses Easy on the reins

’81 a motor and your
Mama’s 17 again
She’s squinting at the dusty wind the anger of the plains

e|---2--/-0-|--3-3-x-3---|-5-5-x-3---|--0-0-x-2---|--------------------------|
B|---3--/-6-|--5-5-x-5---|-5-5-x-5---|--1-1-x-3---|--------------------------|
G|---2--/-5-|--5-5-x-4---|-5-5-x-4---|--2-2-x-2---|--------------------------|
D|---0--/-0-|--0-0-x-0---|-0-0-x-0---|--0-0-x-0---|--------------------------|
A|----------|------------|-----------|------------|--------------------------|
E|----------|------------|-----------|------------|--------------------------|

You and I were almost nothing
Pray to God that God was bluffing
17 ain’t old enough to reason with the pain

How could we expect the two to
stay in love when neither knew the
meaning of the difference between sacred and profane

Chorus Chords

[G/B]

e|---3-----|----3-----|----2----|---3-----|---0----|----3----|----3----------|
B|---3-----|----3-----|----3----|---3-----|---3----|----3----|----3----------|
G|---0-----|----0-----|----2----|---2-----|---2----|----0----|----0----------|
D|---2-----|----0-----|----0----|---0-----|---0----|----2----|----x----------|
A|---3-----|----2-----|---------|---------|--------|----0----|----2----------|
E|---------|----3-----|---------|---------|--------|---------|---------------|

I was riding on my mother’s hip
She was shorter than the corn
All the years I took from her
Just by being born[G/B]

e|---2--/-0-|--3-3-x-3---|-5-5-x-3---|--0-0-x-2---|--------------------------| x2
B|---3--/-6-|--5-5-x-5---|-5-5-x-5---|--1-1-x-3---|--------------------------|
G|---2--/-5-|--5-5-x-4---|-5-5-x-4---|--2-2-x-2---|--------------------------|
D|---0--/-0-|--0-0-x-0---|-0-0-x-0---|--0-0-x-0---|--------------------------|
A|----------|------------|-----------|------------|--------------------------|
E|----------|------------|-----------|------------|--------------------------|

Didn’t mean to break the cycle
At 17 I went by Michael
No one ever called me by my own name anyway
Five full generations living
All these expectations giving way to one
Late to have a baby on the way

Chorus

You were riding on your mother’s hip
She was shorter than the corn
All the years you took from her
Just by being born [G/B]

This is how you make yourself call your mother
And this is how you make yourself closer to your brother
And remember him back when he was small enough to help you sing

(Chorus)
You thought God was an architect, now you know
He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow
And everything you built that’s all for show goes up in flames
In 24 frames

(Verse)
This is how you see yourself floating on the ceiling
And this is how you help her when her heart stops beating
What happened to the part of you that noticed every changing wind

This is how you talk to her when no one else is listening
And this is how you help her when the muse goes missing
You vanish so she can go drowning in a dream again

(Chorus)
You thought God was an architect, now you know
He’s something like a pipe bomb ready to blow
And everything you built that’s all for show goes up in flames
In 24 frames