In California

IN CALIFORNIA

This one you can actually almost replicate on guitar. When playing, keep thumbing the A

to keep that open C note, and play the bottom two strings with your index and middle

I can’t be bothered tabbing it, so here at the chords:

A/Dmajb5: x 0 x x 9 10

A: x 0 x(6)5 5

Am x 0 x(5)5 5

A/D: x 0 x 2 3 2

Asus2b5: x 0 x 4 4 5

A/G: x 0 x 4 3 3

E/B: 0 x 9 8 7 x

E/Amaj7: 0 x 6 6 5 x

E/G: 0 x 2 4 3 x

E/A: 0 x 7 6 5 x

E/Aaug: 0 x 2 3 2 x

E: 0 2 2 1 0 0

CAPO 3

A/Dmajb5, A

A/Dmajb5, A

my heart became a drunken runt

on the day i sunk in this shunt

to tap me clean

of all the wonder

and the sorrow i have seen

since i left my home

A/Dmajb5, A

my home on the old milk lake

where the darkness does fall so fast

it feels like some kind of mistake

just like they told you it would

just like they told you it would

when i came into my land

i did not understand

neither dry rot or the burn pile or the bark

beetle or the dry well

or the black bale

but there is another

who is a little older

when i broke my bone,

he carried me up from the riverside

to spend my life in spitting distance

of the love that i have known

i must stay here

in an endless eveningtide

and if you come and see me

you'll upset the order

you cannot come and see me

for i set myself apart

but when you come and see me

in California

you cross the border of my heart

well, i have sown untidy furrows 'cross my soul

but i am still a coward

content to see my garden grow so sweet

and full of someone else's flowers

sometimes i can almost feel the power

sometimes i am so in love with you

like a little clock that trembles on the edge of the hour

only ever calling out "cuck-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo"

when i called you

you little one

in a bad way

did you love me?

do you spite me?

time will tell

if i can be well

and rise to meet you rightly

when moving across my land

brandishing themselves like a burning branch

advance the tallow-colored, wall-eyed deer

quiet as gondoliers

well, i wait all night for you in California

watching the fox pick off my goldfish

from their sorry, golden state

B E (sus4)

and i am no longer afraid of anything

save the life that here awaits

i don't belong to anyone

my heart is heavy as an oil drum

and i don't want to be alone

my heart is yellow as an ear of corn

and i have torn my soul apart

from pulling artlessly with fool commands

Abm (F#)

some nights i just never go to sleep at all

and i stand

shaking in the doorway like a sentinel, all alone

(F#) Abm (F#)

bracing like the bow upon a ship

and fully abandoning

(F#) Abm

any thought of anywhere but home

(F#) E

my home

sometimes i can almost feel the power

and i do love you

is it only timing that has made it such a dark hour

only ever chiming out "cuck-oo, hoo-oo, hoo-oo"

*stabs*

cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a

cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a

cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a

cu-ckoo, cu-ckoo, koo, ha-a, ha-hour, ha-a, ha-a

my heart

i wear you down

i know

gotta think straight

keep a clean plate

keep from wearing down

if i lose my hay

just where am i going to lay?

for it has half who need to be hanging around

Here among the Daphne blooming out of the big ground

i'm a native too, but i'm overgrown

i am sure my roots are near here as rich as rope

here down

in California