With A Pen In His Hand, Win Butler's Life Only Just Begun
Sensitive indie folk building to grand orchestral art rock, acoustic guitar intro, delicate female vocals, Bright Eyes style, theatrical crescendo, flutes, piccolos, sweeping violins, driving piano, massive drums, dramatic, melancholic, theatrical
With A Pen In His Hand, Win Butler's Life Only Just Begun
Sensitive indie folk building to grand orchestral art rock, acoustic guitar intro, delicate female vocals, Bright Eyes style, theatrical crescendo, flutes, piccolos, sweeping violins, driving piano, massive drums, dramatic, melancholic, theatrical
Lyrics
Intro: Very quiet, fingerpicked acoustic guitar
(C) (Am) (F) (G)
(C) (Am) (F) (G)
Verse 1: Delicate female vocal, intimate acoustic
(C) With a notebook open and a (Am) pencil in my hand
(F) I drew the cartoons and the comics (G) of a different land
(C) Reproductions of paintings, (Am) sketching out the lines
(F) Writing words about my friends to see if (G) everything aligns
(C) It didn't take much struggle, it all just (Am) clicked with the guitar
(F) I wasn't looking for a tragedy or (G) hanging at the bar
Verse 2: Adding soft piano and synth strings
(C) Fake strings on a keyboard, a (Am) Japanese design
(F) Video game style music making (G) everything so fine
(C) I could sing and play with meaning, in my (Am) early twenties glow
(F) I thought that was the way a living (G) artist was supposed to go
Chorus: Gentle rhythm section enters
(F) But they're exposing the crisis, the (C) shadow has grown
(G) Millions on the East Coast in a state that's (Am) Not Unknown
(F) Hitting the Turnpike, a two-hour (C) drive
(G) Wondering how the rock stars are barely (Am) alive
(F) Yeah, it's (G) Not Unknown... (C)
Verse 3: Darker, driving acoustic strumming
(C) With a pen in his hand, Win Butler's (Am) life only just begun
(F) But now he's in a wheelchair, (G) hiding from the sun
(C) A broken face pulling up a (Am) microphone stand
(F) Singing hits from a memory he (G) doesn't understand
(C) What the hell is that? False (Am) decadence and wine
(F) An extreme rock star life crossing (G) over the line
(C) I looked up Bright Eyes, yeah, they all (Am) sound like this
(F) But I never traded my vision for the (G) bottom of the abyss
Bridge: Tempo quickens, strings and piano swell
(Am) Ten minutes standing and the (F) heart rate flies
(C) Blood pooling in the legs, staring (G) out with empty eyes
(Am) A body not regulating, they (F) call it POTS or something worse
(C) A condition on the highway, riding (G) in a quiet hearse
(Am) All my friends had kids, and they (F) settled down to live
(C) I'm the one making music with so (G) much left to give
(Am) But I stayed the real Terra, while they (F) faded out of sight
(C) Waiting to be fixed in the (G) middle of the night!
Epic Orchestral Explosion: Flutes, Piccolos, Violins, Heavy Drums, Grand Piano
(C) (F) (Am) (G)
(C) (F) (Am) (G)
Chorus: Massive Art-School Arrangement, powerful female vocals
(F) They're exposing the crisis, the (C) shadow has grown
(G) Millions on the East Coast in a state that's (Am) Not Unknown!
(F) Hitting the Turnpike, a two-hour (C) drive!
(G) Wondering how the rock stars are barely (Am) alive!
(F) Yeah, it's (G) Not Unknown! (C) (Am)
Outro: Sweeping orchestration slowing down, returning to solo piano
(C) With a pen in his hand... (Am)
(F) But he let the meaning go. (G)
(C) Fake strings on a keyboard... (Am)
(F) In a world they'll never know. (G)
(F) It's not unknown. (G)
(C) (Let the final piano chord ring out softly)