A Century Ends Tabs

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A Century Ends (1993)

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Shine
Written by David Gray, tab by Chris Campbell

I can see it in your eyes, what I know in my heart is true
that our love it has faded like the summer run through
so we'll walk down the shoreline one last time together
feel the wind blow our wanderin' hearts like a feather
but who knows whats waiting in the wings of time
dry your eyes, we gotta go where we can shine

Don't be hiding in sorrow or clinging to the past
with your beauty so precious and the season so fast
no matter how cold the horizon appear or how far the first night
when I held you near you gotta rise from these ashes
like a bird of flame, step out of the shadow
we've gotta go where we can shine

For all that we struggle, for all we pretend
it don't come down to nothing, except love in the end
and ours is the road, that is strewn with goodbyes
but as it unfolds, as it all unwinds
remember your soul is the one thing, you can't compromise
take my hand
we're gonna go where we can shine
we're gonna go where we can shine
we're gonna go where we can shine

(and look, and look)
Through the windows of midnight, moonfoam and silver

A Century Ends
Written by David Gray, tab by David Smith

A   E D F#m C# F   G    B    E7
-0---0----3----2---------1----3-----2-----0-
-2---0----3----4----6----1----3-----4-----0-
-2---1----2----2----6----2----0-----4-----1-
-2---2----0----4----6----2----0-----4-----0-
-0---2----0----4----4----3----2-----2-----2
-0---0----0----2---------1----3-----2-----0-

Intro: A E D E7

A E D E7
Cast your eyes into the distance,
A E D E7
try to focus on it all
A   E D E7
Find a spirit of resistance,
A   E D E7
instead of pride before the fall
F#m D
Forge some opposition,
F#m D
from disparate strands
A E D E7
It ain't the prettiest position, as a century ends

(same as above until...)

Unstable situation, faces made of wax
Streams of melting glass, sheets of butchered facts
the roar of the machine
C# D E
hooded hearts and jewelled hands
A E F    G A
and anger spilling out like gasoline, as a century ends

E B D A
Everything I seen, everything that I heard,
E B D A
Ain't even the tip of the iceberg
F G
Fire down memory lane
D E
So pass me my rose tinted glasses again

(Gap: F#m D F#m D E A E D A )

Through a fog of contradiction, out to the lake of tears
See society admiring its own reflection, chase a light that shines and disappears
Careful what you say 'cos reality offends
Just sit back and let your soul decay as a century ends

And its easy to get weary, as you fight to get it done
Against a popular theory, that it's over 'fore it's even begun
Strain the limit of compassion, tend a wound that never mends
and honesty still out of fashion as a century ends

Debauchery
Written by David Gray, tab by David Smith

C    G F Am E
-0------3------1------0-------0-
-1------3------1------1-------0-
-0------0------2------2-------1-
-2------0------2------2-------2-
-3------2------3------0-------2
-3------3------1------0-------0-

Intro: C G F G

C G       F   G
Drunken ferry boat woman, swayin' on your sea
  C G                  F   G
if I turn on the gasfire, by the rain rattled window, won't you sail over to me

Am   E
The hail storm tumbles, the rail line rumbles
F   G
you move in the porch with me,
C G        F   G C
on an overcast day, the pale winter city, an afternoon's debauchery

(Same as above)

Your blouse your skirt, I'll undo them so gentle with beautiful care,
I'm a lonely man with five bottles of wine
I'd like you to share

Chorus

Orange street light, afternoon becomes night
you drink your wine from a mug, there's cats at the backdoor
the snow is two inches, you roll down your tights on the rug

Chorus

Gathering Dust
Written by David Gray, tab by David Smith
Capo 1st fret

G    C D
-3------0------2-
-0------1------3-
-0------0------2-
-0------2------0-
-2------3------0-
-3------3------2-

note: there are variations in the C-chord. You can play it as 032033 or 012023.

Intro: G C

G C G   C
I got no reason..........but that I must
G C G   C
maybe I feel.............like I've been gathering dust
G C
I must leave this harbour for the sea
G     C
I'm too young to settle down and make a home
G     C
but I don't know where I'm wanting to be
G C
I just know I have to be there alone

D C D C D C D G C
Stole my time, all my time, spend my time, for you

(Same as above)

Pale winter sun is beating the ground
why am I throwing away the best thing that I've found
my young hearts in tatters and I'm sure
that it will be a long time healing
its so hard to see what I'm doing this for
when loneliness is all that I'm feeling

Stole my time, all my time, stole my time, for you

G D C
Now the wind it is blowing
   D G
blowing leaves from the trees
   D C
I've got no use knowing
   D
that with time it will ease
G D   C
I don't know where I'm going
   D
hope I get there soon
G D   C
cos my soul is hollow
D G
as the sorrowful moon
G D   C D
na na na na...

Oh the night is raining on my weary head
taking me back
See the sun spread wings of gold
as the dawn unfurls
hear the song that the moon sings
to the darkened world
feel the fire lighting
in the bitter cold
its the light that shines
through the windows of your soul
windows of your soul

Wisdom
Written by David Gray, tab by David Smith

B   E A D G C
-7---0----5----2----3----0--
-7---0----5----3----2----1--
-8---1----6----2----0----0--
-9---2----7----0----0----2--
-9---2----7----0----2----3--
-7---0----5----0----3----3--

Intro: B E A E

B E A E
Time no good,
B E A E
Wisdom no good
B E A E
Patience no good
B E A E
To me anymore

A    B
Now night has fallen on the stair,
A    B
Some things you do you can never repair
A    B A B
Seems I'm always pretending things aren't there when they are

A    B
And the leaves are nearly off the trees
A    B
and the traffic's thick past yellow windows
A    B   A B
and I'm waiting in the frozen headlights, thinking of you

Time no good, wisdom no good
Patience no good to me anymore

(same as 1st verse)

And the trees are looking like bones
and the afternoon's filled with storm and rain
I'm staring out the window of this metal train, thinking of you
And the trees are looking like bones
and the afternoon's filled with storm and rain
and I'm tangled up in memory's thorns no way through

Time no good, wisdom no good
Patience no good to me anymore

Gap: D G C G

A    B   A    B
Trees like bones, yellow windows
A         B   A    B
memories, thorns, oh and you

Time no good, wisdom no good
Patience no good to me anymore

Let the Truth Sting

The hour is out of joint
black sun has risen
and the river of words
is flowing on through
the cages of tradition
and they're handing out emptiness
we'll take it cos it's given
free with this plastic innocence
and these standards of living

Questions lighted questions
burnin' holes into my head
hanging like shadows o'er the sun
staring out like the eyes of the dead
and sometimes my soul flickers
when the wind of change blows cold
over the mire of repetition
down the corridors of rigmarole

What I say, what I think
what I put down in ink
I'm only trying to find a way to understand
and I mean no harm
I'm just searching for calm
in the storm of mankind

Do you find it there
in the sea of faces
that drowns you everyday
or in the silence and rubble and empty spaces
where children and rottweilers play
is it buried in the praise
given so cheap
with a meaningless movement of the jaws
in the looking glass
that flatters you
or in the rattle of hollow applause

Blind circle, moon and sun body willing, mind undone
one pain ending while another begins
lies, ruin disease
into wounds like these
let the truth sting

From the hub to the limit
through the urban hollows
out into the poles of the extreme
to echo through the numbness
of these godless minutes
in the shadow of delusion's regime

And here watching the night
as it opens like a flower
and the day starts to rust
feeling time pound
like a silent hammer
on this empire of dust
and I'm thinking bout the bullet
and the TV screen, the dollar, and the clenched fist
and if we're searching for peace
how come we still believe
in hatred as the catalyst

Oh through the borderline
in front and behind
one pain ending
while another begin
lies, ruin disease into wounds like these
let the truth sing
yeah
let the truth

And I feel it from the pit of my stomach
into the ditch of my mind
inside the chambers of my heart
as I stare half blind
at these walls of cardboard
at this space that I've rented
at your beauty that is crumbling
though you try so hard to prevent it

On and on
body willing, mind undone
one pain ending while another begins
lies, ruin, disease
into wounds like these
let the truth sting
let the truth sting
let the truth sting

Lead me Upstairs
Written by David Gray, tab by David Smith
Capo 7th fret

D   Gmaj7  G2 E
-2-----2----0-----0-
-3-----3----3-----0-
-2-----0----0-----1-
-0-----0----0-----2-
-0-----2----2-----2-
-0-----0----3-----0-

Intro: D Gmaj7 G2

D          Gmaj7      G6
I care little for my body she said
D                   Gmaj7            G6
I couldn't care less about my soul
D                   Gmaj7            G6
and as she led me upstairs in whispers
D                   Gmaj7            G6
my whole summer turned cold

D    E          G6
I'll lead you upstairs
D    E          G6
I'll lead you upstairs
D    E          G6
If you've got no worries
D    E          G6
then I've got no cares
D    E          G6
I'll lead you upstairs

(Same as above)

I told her people had been talking
about how dark she was inside
she said my hopes are buried in the soil
deep in the earth outside
and with one twist of the world
she brought me to her side
she asked me for the truth one time
and I all I did was lie

I'll lead you upstairs
I'll lead you upstairs
If you've got no worries
then I've got no cares
I'll lead you upstairs

Living Room
Written by David Gray, tab by Chris Campbell

My good friends speak, like they did last year
last night's just a blur, through a head full of beer
my good friends speak like they did last year
and last year's just a blur through a head full of beer

Where's your wisdom, put that broken bottle down
let the wind in your sails take you out of this town so sad

I think I'm dying and if life's just a living room
then I'm in the hall and I'm glad
and if life's just a living room then I'm in the hall and I'm glad
Oh I'm glad, I'm glad, I'm glad

now the dawn it has broke
still the night don't clear
memories falling in the mornin' rain
I'm up too close, to see it clear
and last year's just a blur
through a head full of beer

and where's your wisdom, put that broken bottle down
let the wind in your sails take you out of this town so sad

I think I'm dying, and if life's just a living room
then I'm in the hall and I'm glad
and if life's just a living room, then I'm in the hall and I'm glad
Oh I'm glad, I'm glad, I'm glad

Birds Without Wings
Written by David Gray, tab by David Smith
Capo 1st Fret

C   G G1 A7 Am D   Em  Dsus
-0---3----3-----3-----0-----2----0----0-
-1---3----3-----2-----1-----3----0----3-
-0---0----0-----2-----2-----2----0----0-
-2---0----0-----2-----2-----0----2----4-
-3---2----0-----0-----0-----0----2----5-
-3---3----3-----0-----0-----0----0----5-

Intro: C G G1

C          G   G1 C       G   G1
Wishing that something would happen, a change in this place
         C       G   G1       C       G   G1
'cos I'm tearing off the fancy wrapping, find an empty package
C       G   G1
take for a while your trumpet from your lip
C       G   G1 C       G     G1
loosen your hold loosen your grip, on your old ways that have fallen out of step
   Em    D C
in a changing time
C G
hoist a new flag
C G
hoist a new flag

C    G   G1 C       G   G1
Angry sun burn down, judging us all
C       G   G1 C G   G1
guilty of neglect and disrespect and thinking small
C    G   G1 C G   G1 C    G   G1 C G   G1
and death by boredom, and death by greed, if we can't stop taking, more than we need
C    G   G1       C             G   G1
Well across the fractured landscape, I see the same things
C G  G1 C             G   G1
tired ideas, birds without wings
A7 C    G
b---i-r-ds without wings,
A7 C    G
b---i-r-ds without wings

(C, G, G1 until .......)

And these are just thoughts, of lack lustre times
And I've no interest,
in excuses you can find
like you've had a hard day
now you're too tired to care
now you're too tired to care
you've had a hard day
well across the fractured landscape, I see the same things
tired ideas broken values, many with the notion, that to share is to lose
C       G  G1    C             G   G1
a hollow people bound by a lack of imagination and too much looking back
C                G              Em
wihout the courage to give a new thing a chance
C Dsus G   Em                  D              C
grounded by this ignorance, (and the cat comes), we're just,
A7 C    G
b---i-r-ds without wings,
A7 C    G
b---i-r-ds without wings
A7 C    G
b---i-r-ds without wings

Its All Over
Written by David Gray, tab by David Smith

D    G A2 A Em
-2----3-----3-----0-----0-
-3----3-----2-----2-----0-
-2----0-----2-----2-----0-
-0----0-----2-----2-----2-
-0----2-----0-----0-----2-
-0----3-----0-----0-----2-

Intro: D G A2 A

   G    A2
In the bitter violent night
   G    A2
the stars wear sour grins
   G    A2       G    A2
in the vastness of the black sky
      G    A2
And I'm cradled in your arms
G    A2
unbridled by alarm
      G    A2    G    A2
'cos I know the end is nigh

Em          A
It's all over bar the shoutin'
Em          A
one thing's for sure
         D    G    A
its all over now
         D    G    A
its all over now

(Same as above)

confusion wanders in
strides the evening like a king
chaos and turmoil prevail
bedlam reigns, hope is drowned
ah but strangely we settle down
resigned to the sinking ship on which we sail

It's all over bar the shoutin'
one things for sure
its all over now
its all over now

D                    G
our love's just smithereens
                   Em
too much beer in my head
                      A
another night is getting late
D                         G
I don't know which way to go
                      Em
there's just this long white road
                   A
and I can't think straight

D G          Em   A
no I can't think straight (repeat 3 times)

It's all over bar the shoutin'
one things for sure
its all over now
its all over now