The Ballad of the Costa Concordia

C F C Em Am Em Am G x2

C                          F C
I used to like the morning
                           Em Am
I'd survived another night
                                         Em Am
I'd walk to breakfast through the garden
                                           G C
See the flowers stretching in the sunlight

                             F C
Now I wake up in the morning
                                          Em Am
And all the kindness is drained out of me
                           Em Am
I spend hours just wincing
                                         G F
And trying to regain some sense of peace

        C                  D
If only I could sustain my anger
Dm      C                 G
Feel it grow stronger and stronger
F                C                  D
It sharpens to a point and sheds my skin
Dm                          C
Shakes off the weight of my sins
                G      F C
And takes me to heaven

                          F C
I stay up late every night
                            Em Am
Out of some general protest
                                           Em Am
But with no one to tell you to come to bed
                          G C
It's not really a contest

                F C
Maybe you think
                           Em Am
I'll learn from my mistake
                  Em Am
But not this time
                         G F
It's just gonna break me

        C                  D
If only I could sustain my anger
Dm      C                 G
Feel it grow stronger and stronger
F                C                  D
It sharpens to a point and sheds my skin
Dm                          C
Shakes off the weight of my sins
                G      F
And takes me to heaven

C                             F C
And if I've lost you for good
                                  Em Am
Could it have been any other way?
                                   Em Am
Was the water filling up for years
                                G C
Or did I wreck it all in a day?

                     F C
I'm going to bed now
                          Em
I've sunk into my sorrows
          Am                             Em
And it'll take three hundred million dollars
   Am                 D Dm C G
To get me up tomorrow

D Dm C G

F                         C
I won't go down with this shit
       Dm                      Am
I will put my hands up and surrender
           F                      C
There will be no more flags above my door
       G                Dm
I have lost, and always will be

F Am F C G

It was an expensive mistake
It was an expensive mistake
My horse broke his back to get me here
I have his blood on my hands for no reason
But what was I supposed to do?
How was I supposed to know how to use a tube amp?
How was I supposed to know how to drive a van?
How was I supposed to know how to ride a bike without hurting myself?
How was I supposed to know how to make dinner for myself?
How was I supposed to know how to hold a job?
How was I supposed to remember to grab my backpack after I set it down to play
Basketball?
How was I supposed to know how to not get drunk every
Thursday, Friday, Saturday
And - why not - Sunday?
How was I supposed to know how steer this ship?
How the hell was I supposed to steer this ship?
It was an expensive mistake
Can't say you're sorry and it's over
I was given a body that is falling apart
My house is falling apart -
I was given a mind that can't control itself
I was given a ship that can't steer itself
And what about the pain I'm in right now?
And what about a vacation?
And what about a vacation to feel good?
My horse broke his back and left me here
How was I supposed to know?
And God won't forgive me
And you won't forgive me
Not unless I open up my heart
And how am I supposed to do that
When I go to this same room every night
Sleep in the same bed every night
Same fucking bed
Red comforter with the white stripes
And the yellow ceiling light makes me feel like I'm dying
This sea is too familiar
How many nights have I drowned here?
How many times have I drowned?

F Am F C
       G
I give up (x2)

A5

A                                     Am
Let us take you back to where we came in
We were united, an undivided nation
D                      G
We got divided, it was something inside us
       A
It was not us

                                    Am
We were so naive, we were just like animals
                                       D
Told what to believe by the beasts who took control
             G                      A
We wanted control too, but that was normal

Cause our life was one of survival
       Am
The decisions we've made, if you can call it deciding
          D                         G                 A
With your life on the line, it'd be social suicide to change your mind

So we got mad and we split the scene
       Am
Now we download all of our shit for free
         D                    G                       A
It's the new economy, we have nothing to offer and we sleep on trash

D A D A E
       G
I give up x2

A                                      Am
Let us take you back to where you came in
                                      D
A man clinging to the cliff of revelation
                           G
So scared of what he would find, he started crying
        A
"it was not me"

Stopped at the borderline they took his disguise
   Am
So he read a book that won a Pulitzer prize
   D
It was about death
          G
It didn't help
               A
He saw himself in it

He was disturbed at the conclusions it led to
Am
But he couldn't say what because the author was dead too
       D                         G                 A
And so though he made fun of us, he has now become one of us

D A D A E
       G
I give up x4

A G F#m F G x2

       A G F#m F G
I give up
x3

A D/A E D

A                        D/A
And you wake up trembling
                                   E
From a dream where I swam into the river
                               D
I reach out and hold you in my arms
  E                       D
I love you, I love you, I love you