“While You Were Sleeping”
By: Elvis Perkins
Capo 3
Standard Tuning
Verse:
While you were sleeping, your babies grew
The stars shined, and the shadows moved
And time flew, the phone rang
There was a silence when the kitchen sang
Its songs competed like kids for space
We stared for hours in our maker’s face
They gave us picks, said don’t mind the sun
And go gold and come back when you’re done
Uh-oh . . . uh-oh
*All verses same progression
Verse:
While you were sleeping, you tossed you turned
You rolled your eyes as the world burned
The heavens fell, the earth quaked
I thought you must be, but you weren’t awake
No you were dreaming, you ignored the sun
You grew your power garden for your little ones
And you found brides for them on Christmas Eve
They hung young Cain from the Adam trees
-- And danced uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh
Chorus:
While you were sleeping, I tossed and I turned
‘Til I closed my eyes but the future burned
Through the planet turned a hair grey
As I relived the day
*All choruses follow same progression as well
Third Verse:
While you were sleeping, the money died
Machines were harmless and the Earth sighed
The wind, you swept sound
And gravity but my love around
The oceans rose, sang about decay
While the witches flew and the mermaids stayed
Full of dreams, you overslept
And keeping with the quiet through the walls I crept
And walked on tiptoes
Sent darkness swirling over all the kitchen
In the early morning
Uh-oh, uh-oh
Chorus:
I’ll never catch up to you, who sleeps so sound
My yawns are useless, my heart beats too loud
But go to sleep, my mind’s too proud to bow out
Verse
While you were sleeping, the time changed
All your things were rearranged
Your vampire mirrors, face to face
They saw forever out into space
And found you dreaming in black and white
While it rained in all the colors of the night
Uh-oh, Uh-oh
Chorus:
While I watched the TV’s memories
Of championships managed to seep, can it be?
My honey be-tween you an’ me
Verse:
So I waited for the riddled sky
To be solved again by the sunrise
And I made a death soup for life
For my father’s ill widowed wife
Chorus:
Did you have that strangest dream before you woke?
Because in God you had the butterfly stroke.
Did it escape you like some half-told joke
When you reached for your plume of smoke?
Verse:
And it’ll haunt you my honey bee
Anyone, who’s anyone has that same dream
Where you’re falling, where you’re flying
And were you calling out, or were you dieing?
But thank God you’re up now, let’s stay this way
There’ll still be no more names and no more days
‘Cause when we’re dreaming, the babies grow
The sun shines and the shadows flow
Time flies and the phone rings
There is a silence when everybody tries to sing
Uh-oh, uh-oh, uh-oh. . .
5/07