Family Portrait ukulele

Family Portrait

• D

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Intro (starting at :31 with the piano):

D A (x2)

D                                                                A
So we start with my father as a boy barely spoke a word of english fell in

                                                               D
love from a distance he watched her working from the back fence

He learned some words and some clever turns of phrase from his father's

             A                                 E
book of poets, she wasn't taken in that instant, but grew impressed with

his persistence.

D                                   E                         A
They met each other out by moonlight, made love in the nearby woods, then

                            C#m                                  D
her folks became suspicious when her cycle broke and (?). They stole

                           E                          A
away without their goodbyes, got married in a foreign town, made their way

                      C#m                     D                        
 E
as best as they could. Found jobs and settled down. And then time moved on.

Interlude:

D A (x2)

D                                                            A
I was born in a river of blood on sheets from the wedding day. The room was dark and the 
stench was thick my father couldn't stand the smell of it.

D
Mama died in the night cause the nearest doctor couldn't stem the blood

      A                                   E
loss. Father cried out on the back porch. My sister held me at the

                  D                           E
neighbor's house. Oh my there was a storm then, there was a flood of a

          A                                      C#m
different kind. Father's eyes were often vacant, but his hands were rarely

D                                          E
quiet. Sister learned to take her hits well, both from life and the

         A                                    C#m
physical kind, but I was never one to lie down, despite who picked the

D                         E
fight. So we designed our hells.

Interlude:

A D E (x2)

D                            E                             A
Father turned into a drinker, a dark bastard with a wooden heart. Sister

                      C#m                                    D
learned to be a mother, before she ever played another part. And I became a

              E                           A
little terror, I lashed out at whatever's around. Took some time before I

C#m                                       D                         E
settled, to find a mind that was somewhat sound. And like it always does,

            A            D       E
time rushed on.

A                                                     D
Six years later father died in the very same bedroom. Many said it was the

                  E                                         A
grief that did it, I have to say it's cause he hung himself. To be honest

                                                       D
neither sister nor myself ever much regret his passing. But I admit it was

             E                                             A
a nice thing, to always know that we could feed ourselves.

-Ben Malley

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