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Elbows Tab

by Darren Hanlon


Capo 5th fret ( chords relative to capo )

        

           				
On a warm night in March on a dark disco floor
      
I danced up a storm like I’d never before
            				   
Every step in the book and then some that weren’t listed
					  		
For a song or two I felt nothing else existed

					   	
Now if a dream curled at your feet you’d take it home and name it
          
I’m struggling now to find something to blame it on
	       		  
Strobing effects or perhaps it was that dress
							
But my eye was captured by a beautiful actress

						
Now the minutiae’s still my memory writ large
 
As she danced nearer me with her coy entourage
						
She tugged at the scarf round her neck it came loose
				      				
She flung it and hung it from the disc jockey’s booth

      			  	    
But before I continue one moments reprieve
					 
I grant you dear audience a chance to leave
		              	  
For my tale never ends in that it never started
					 
When the house lights came on I’d already departed

			           	
No not one word was spoken nor a glance exchanged 
	
When the sun rose next morning the world hadn’t changed
				     
See we only touched elbows is the plain naked truth
			      	          			
And I can’t even back up my story with proof

				  		
We only touched elbows, felt our bones clunk together

Then the moment was over in a falling feather
	      		
An accident sure but it happened I’ll wrangle
			                           
Our elbows did touch our arms at right angles

						
Now there’s naught the nosey observer could’ve guessed
 
But the rock and roll drummer inside of my chest
				                  
Everyone’s seen her films and I’ll whisper her name
					    
That we only touched elbows is not such a shame

         					  
For the world’s getting crowded and I can’t see a lapse
						
It’s not about leaving spaces but filling the gaps
 	    	       	     		
We’re all bumping and knocking strangers all the time
					    
Sometimes we don’t notice, mostly we don’t mind

			       	
A foot brushes your ankle on a peak hour bus
         
Someone’s hand on the small of your back as they pass
	     		   
A shopkeepers fingers while handing you change
 					       	           
Can lightly brush yours without feeling too strange 

	    				
But why I felt so alive I can’t quite determine

There could be a word to explain it in German
      			  
Some take others home waking up to regret it
						         
We only touched elbows and I’ll never forget it

                
              
             
            
           
         
  

			    		
Now the innocent DJ still spins his black moons
						
And keeps us all moving with his faithful tunes
	       			
And the lights nod in synch, they’re mechanically powered
			      		      
We only touched elbows and I still haven’t