Peter Hammill - The Lie (Bernini's St. Theresa) (chords)


(From "The Silent Corner And The Empty Stage")

Transcription by Udi Susser "The Happy Aardvark".

Intro: (Keep a thundering D as the bass note. Of course a piano is preferable but a guitar works as well. By the way, are all you internet people out there guitar people? If I see more "tab masters" I will explode to little bits. This of course will be on all your collective heads. But I digress.)

Dm.........C/D..........Dm...........C/D..........Dm............Am/D........
.....Eb (make this one very thundering and messy).

Dm      C/D    Am G        F
Genuflection / erection in church.
Dm       C       Am         G
Sacristy cloth / moth-eaten shroud.
Dm       C       Am G   F Em
Secret silence / sacred secrets
  F              Em            Dm
accumulate dust, aggravate the eye.

Dm              C   Am G  F
Incautious laughter after confession.
Dm     C       Am       G
Benediction - fictional fear
Dm       C       Am    G  F Em
Hidden faces ... Grace is a name,
     F               Em            Dm     F Em C Dm   F Em C Dm   F Em Dm C  G/B
like Chastity , like Lucifer, like mine.

C                       G/B
You took me through the window-stain,
           Bb
drowned in image, inscence, choir-refrain
    A         F
and slow ecstasy -
    Em               Am             Cm   G+5/B  G  Dm
I'd embrace you if I only knew your name....

Dm            C   Am        G      F
The silent corner haunts my shadow prayers:
Dm          C     Am      G      (long pause)
ice-cold statue - rapture divine,
Dm   C      Am G  F     Em
            unconscious eyes,
    F
the open mouth,
    Em
the wound of love,
    Dm   F Em C Dm   F Em C Dm   F Em Dm C  G/B
the Lie.

C                    G/B
You took me, gave me reasons for
           Bb                                 A   F
saints and missals, vigils, all the more holy martyrs -
    Em              Am
I'd embrace you and walk through
            Cm   G+5/B  G  C  G/B  Bb  A  F
the one-way door...
    Em                  Am
I'd embrace you, but it would be
             Cm Cm/B Cm Cm/B (Repeat in a thundering manner and fade away).
just another lie -

(Worth, 1971)



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