Love Chronicles by Al Stewart Part I --------- D C G D I can remember the first girl that I did love C G It was Stephanie D C G D In kindergarten arithmetic classes she used to C G Sit next to me D C G I'd pass her sticky sweets under the table D C G Where the teacher couldn't see D C Although she wouldn't remember me now G D C G Sometimes I wonder where she can be. D C G D C G D C G D C G I can remember the first girl I kissed it was D C Christine when I was ten. D C G I'd been told we were moving away D C G I thought I'd never see her again D C G Oh don't forget me D C G I'll be back when they let me D C G Before you learn how to lie when you're leaving D C G Love is so much easier then D C G D C G A7 D G D And at school would you believe three hundred boys A7 D And no girls at all A7 D G But you're a fool if you should leave G D A7 D Just think of the joys of rugby football G D A G D And prep in the morning and Brylcream and acne G D C A And cross-country running to kill evil thoughts D G I'm surprised that I survived D A7 C G I ran ten thousand miles with my back to the wall. D C G D C G D C G D I can remember the first girl that I made love to C G It was in a park D C G In the lower pleasure gardens in Bournemouth D C G In summer just after dark D C G D C G My mind was reeling. Oh what a feeling. D C G I missed the bus and walked twelve miles home D C G D C G D C And it really didn't seem far. G D A G D And all through my seventeenth summer D A G A7 D Running together from crowds and ties D A G A7 D Taking our clothes off and feeling each other D A G A7 D With fingers and senses and mouths and eyes, G D G D Incurring the glances of old disapproval G D C A7 From elderly local inhabitant's eyes D A G A D Oh time time we hardly even knew you D A7 G A7 D You didn't touch us with your lies. C G D C G D C G In the halcyon days of my late adolescence D C G My goal seemed clearly in sight D C G Playing electric guitar with a beat group D G We set the ballrooms alight D C G Camping it up for the dyed blonde receptionists D C G Who told us we were al-ri-yi-yight D C G On an ego trip for a teenage superstar D C G D C G D C G D C G On thirty shillings a night. D C G And so it fell that I came up to London D C G To look for fortune and fame D C G Starry eyed in my seaside successes D C G And much too sure of the game. D C G First girl I met there D C G I thought I'd get there D C G But the first girl was nearly the last girl D C G She left my eyes in the drain. Part II (slower) --------- A7 D A7 D She sat on my floor in the dead of the night G D A7 Rolling a joint and looking round for a light G D G D Her clothes were so black and her face was so white A7 How could I know what was right? G A7 D And I sat all huddled upon my bed G A7 Watching her in my innocence G A7 D And it was no sense at all, but too much sense A G D A7 G D That took me to the bridge of impotence. Oh Artaud's anthology lay spread on the floor And the thoughts that she gave me, I'd not met before And stranded half hypnotised, I watched her in awe Of everything that she stood for. And I wanted more than anything to be like her with every sense But it was no sense at all, but too much sense That took me to the bridge of impotence. She came over to me and kissed me in play Taking my hands between her legs as she lay And she looked in my eyes but I turned them away Finding no words fit to say. And I hated myself, but could not move Shattered in my confidence, But it was no sense at all, but too much sense That took me to the bridge of impotence. Now the stare of the lightbulb tore holes in my brain As she got up in silence that hung like a stain And I wanted to speak, or call out her name, But how could I begin to explain? And my prosecuting room still holds s strand of her hair In evidence, But it was no sense at all, but too much sense That took me to the bridge of impotence. Oh I still think about her when the night fills with rain And speaks with its voices uneasy and vain And I think were I maybe to find her again, Oh I'd probably see her more plain. And I should have known she was just like me, It was after all only commonsense, But it was no sense at all, but too much sense That took me to the bridge of impotence... Segue to part 3. The chords for each verse are the same. Part III (faster, tempo 1) ---------- D C G (repeat) D C G At first I didn't go out much at all D C G I just stayed home in my chains. D C G Picking over the threads of my confidence D C G And searching for the remains. D C G And when I couldn't stand any more of it D C G Going down to a club. D C G Mixing in with the sounds and the crowds D C G D C G D C G I let the music cover me up. D C G And so it came that I stood disillusioned G C G By everything I'd been told. D C G I just didn't believe love existed D C G They were all just digging for gold. D C G Widows and bankers and typists and bus'nessmen D C G Loved each other they said. D C G But all it was though was just a manoeuvre D C G D C G D C G The quickest way into bed. F#7 D A7 D A Bm A And only, lonely, the harlequins and painted phonies Bm F#7 Bm F#7 Pick their ways, through the haze D A7 D Of highs and lows and blues G F# G F# And all that I could do was to pick my way to you G F# Though I didn't tell you G F# You were just a thing to prove Bm Bb+ Bm7 Bm6 Em G Bm But I was hungry when found you, but I'm al-right now. F#7 D A7 D A Bm A They sigh, they lie, the refugees and superhe-roes Bm F#7 Bm F#7 D A7 D On ice, so nice to see you, what's your name? G F# G F# And all that I could do was to say the same to you G F# G F# Take you for the moment, though the moment wasn't true Bm Bb+ Bm Bm6 Em G Bm But I was hungry when I found you and I'm al-right now. Em A7 D Though the street lamp cut through the curfew Em A7 D It shed no light on our mind Em A7 D It would have been so easy to love you G7 F#7 At any other time. F#7 D A7 D A Bm A Only lonely, you came to me the night hung coldly Bm F#7 Bm F#7 D A7 D In your eyes, some other time I might have stayed with you G F# G F# But all that I could do was to turn around to you G F# G F# Thanks for what you gave me now it's time to say "Adieu" Bm Bb+ Bm7 Bm6 Em G Bm Oh I was hungry when I found you but I'm al-right now. Em G Bm Bb+ Ba ba ba alright now D C G (repeat) D C G And so I followed the other's example D C G And jumped into the melee D C G In hunting grounds of Earls Court and Swiss Cottage D C G I did my best to get laid D C G D C G Beer cans and parties, deb girls and arties D C G Bouncing around in the social confusion D C G Missing and making the grade. D C G D C G D G D D (Instrumental Solo - ad lib) Part IV (Slower) --------- C D The very first time I must confess C D I thought you'd be like all of the rest C G And we'd be strangers once again F A7 By the time we were dressed. C D But when you'd smoked your cigarette C D And talked of some people that we'd met C G F A7 I found myself asking was it set, did you have to go yet. F C7 And so you laughed and then kissed me Bb C G And stayed for the whole weekend F C Although the bed was so narrow Bb C7 G D C D We had to sleep end to end. C D And so the weeks passed through my brain C D In their dadaistic chain C G F A7 I found myself seeing you again, and again and again C D And all you gave you gave it free C D Asking for nothing back from me C G F A7 You gave yourself unselfishly as a part of me. F C7 And where I thought that just plucking Bb C G The fruits of the bed was enough F C It grew to be less like fucking Bb C7 G D G D7 And more like making love. G D C G Dsus4 D Of all the girls I ever knew some loved and some denied me G D C G Dsus4 D And all the words I ever said have been no use to hide me G D C G Dsus4 D And all the songs I ever sung each one of them untied me G D C G Dsus4 And all the girls I ever loved have left themselves inside me. F E Eb D