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A Hand to Take Hold of the Scene - Okkervil River
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Tuning: Standard
/ / = 1 measure
/ /... / = 2 measures of Ebm
*Intro*
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*Verse 1*
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I'm a band in a show about a man holding hands with his wife
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on a therapist's couch, with his face to the ground (after fucking around
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countless nights)
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and, in this one episode, close-up cameras are showing him crying,
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his red head and his red eyes.
*Verse 2*
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I'm a band in a show about a boy being buried alive,
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from his head to his toes, by a criminal (but with a sensitive soul!) with
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a set of raccoon eyes,
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and there's this scene in the show when a hustler knows
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he's gonna die.
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The ground opens and he climbs inside.
*Chorus*
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And as he speaks his last line, a thought falls from his mind and I pick it
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up right through the TV:
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Oh oh Is there a hand to take hold of the scene?
*Post-Chorus*
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*Verse 3*
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I'm a man in a dream and there, dancing in front of my eyes,
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is a queen - formed out of flaws, with her eyes all gone odd and a rod
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bolted into her spine.
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She rises up like a yawn. She grips my heart like a claw. She splits apart
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like a jaw, like an eye.
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And she asks me with a sigh,
*Chorus*
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When we're so far from right, when we're losing the fight, when we're
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letting the light weaken its beam -
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Oh oh Is there a hand to take hold of the scene?
*Post-Chorus*
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I want a smile like a glistening shard. I want a kiss that's as sharp as a
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knife. The day expires, and the
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dry, cracked, trembling lips God saw fit to put this kiss inside, I
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lift them up to you.
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I'd like to bear witness to a
*Verse 4*
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light that is fine and is filling the cryingest eyes,
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grace in each face that is making the wastedest,
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brokenest ones fairly fly,
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love that is innocent of that old cynical, covetous, cancerous vibe,
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and a beauty that annihilates all
*Chorus*
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life like it's lived in these nights, holding your hatred tight like a sign
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that you're right or you're strong.
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When your doors are shut tight, I will dream you tonight, and my dream will
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just sweep you along.
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When all fires are fanned, when we're shucking our plans, when we're too
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weak to stand on our two feet
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Oh oh Is there a hand to take hold of the scene?
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Ends on a