The Bones of Bodie, California [KW]

folk, West Coast folk, singer-songwriter

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V5.5

[Intro] [Minor key fingerpicked guitar, slow and steady like a heartbeat. A lonely, echoing mandolin melody enters after 4 bars.]

[Verse 1]
The sagebrush creeps across the street
where thousands used to tread
And the wind is the only living thing
in this city of the dead
The windowpanes are hollow eyes
that stare across the floor
And a low and heavy moan resides
in every sagging door
The timber yields at last to time,
it’s bowing toward the dust
Like an old man’s tired shoulders,
worn with heavy years and rust.

[Chorus]
Oh, the mountain doesn't care for gold,
she only wants the silence
The granite keeps its secrets
from the greed and from the violence
While the buildings fall like miners
who have worked a final shift
And the wild poppies bloom
in every silver-threaded drift.

[Instrumental Interlude] [Slow, mournful fiddle solo over a rolling guitar rhythm]

[Verse 2]
There’s a contrast in the valley
where the lupine reaches high
And the peaks of white-capped granite
pierce the crystal of the sky
The ghosts don't mind the beauty,
they just watch the seasons turn
While the paint peels off the clapboard
and the summer sunsets burn
The creek still runs as clear as glass,
indifferent to the cost
Of the dreams that built the boardwalks
and the lives that we have lost.

[Bridge]
There was laughter in the parlor once,
and fire in the grate
Now there’s nothing but the weather
and the iron hand of fate
We think we own the earth we dig,
we think the land is ours
But the desert always wins it back
with wind and sun and flowers.

[Outro - Lyrics]
The eyes are wide, the mouths are still
And the grass is growing o'er the hill
The silver's gone,
. . . the light remains...

[Outro - Instrumental] [Extended instrumental: The guitar slows down, the mandolin plays a final descending scale, fading into the sound of a whistling wind.]

2118/7500

[Intro] [Minor key fingerpicked guitar, slow and steady like a heartbeat. A lonely, echoing mandolin melody enters after 4 bars.] [Verse 1] The sagebrush creeps across the street where thousands used to tread And the wind is the only living thing in this city of the dead The windowpanes are hollow eyes that stare across the floor And a low and heavy moan resides in every sagging door The timber yields at last to time, it’s bowing toward the dust Like an old man’s tired shoulders, worn with heavy years and rust. [Chorus] Oh, the mountain doesn't care for gold, she only wants the silence The granite keeps its secrets from the greed and from the violence While the buildings fall like miners who have worked a final shift And the wild poppies bloom in every silver-threaded drift. [Instrumental Interlude] [Slow, mournful fiddle solo over a rolling guitar rhythm] [Verse 2] There’s a contrast in the valley where the lupine reaches high And the peaks of white-capped granite pierce the crystal of the sky The ghosts don't mind the beauty, they just watch the seasons turn While the paint peels off the clapboard and the summer sunsets burn The creek still runs as clear as glass, indifferent to the cost Of the dreams that built the boardwalks and the lives that we have lost. [Chorus] Oh, the mountain doesn't care for gold, she only wants the silence The granite keeps its secrets from the greed and from the violence While the buildings fall like miners who have worked a final shift And the wild poppies bloom in every silver-threaded drift. [Bridge] There was laughter in the parlor once, and fire in the grate Now there’s nothing but the weather and the iron hand of fate We think we own the earth we dig, we think the land is ours But the desert always wins it back with wind and sun and flowers. [Outro - Lyrics] The eyes are wide, the mouths are still And the grass is growing o'er the hill The silver's gone, . . . the light remains... [Outro - Instrumental] [Extended instrumental: The guitar slows down, the mandolin plays a final descending scale, fading into the sound of a whistling wind.]

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