Radical Face - Family Portrait

      
 
 Buy The Roots http://radicalface.com/store.html
 
 Intro (starting at :31 with the piano):
 
 D A (x2)
 
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 So we start with my father as a boy barely spoke a word of english fell in
 
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 love from a distance he watched her working from the back fence
 
 He learned some words and some clever turns of phrase from his father's
 
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 book of poets, she wasn't taken in that instant, but grew impressed with
 
 his persistence.
 
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 They met each other out by moonlight, made love in the nearby woods, then
 
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 her folks became suspicious when her cycle broke and (?). They stole
 
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 away without their goodbyes, got married in a foreign town, made their way
 
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  E                                                                         
 as best as they could. Found jobs and settled down. And then time moved on.
 
 Interlude:
 
 D A (x2)
 
 D                                                            A                          
 I was born in a river of blood on sheets from the wedding day. The room was dark and the
 stench was thick my father couldn't stand the smell of it.
 
 D                                                                      
 Mama died in the night cause the nearest doctor couldn't stem the blood
 
       A                                   E                       
 loss. Father cried out on the back porch. My sister held me at the
 
                   D                           E                       
 neighbor's house. Oh my there was a storm then, there was a flood of a
 
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 different kind. Father's eyes were often vacant, but his hands were rarely
 
 D                                          E                       
 quiet. Sister learned to take her hits well, both from life and the
 
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 physical kind, but I was never one to lie down, despite who picked the
 
 D                         E     
 fight. So we designed our hells.
 
 Interlude:
 
 A D E (x2)
 
 D                            E                             A            
 Father turned into a drinker, a dark bastard with a wooden heart. Sister
 
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 learned to be a mother, before she ever played another part. And I became a
 
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 little terror, I lashed out at whatever's around. Took some time before I
 
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 settled, to find a mind that was somewhat sound. And like it always does,
 
             A  D E 
 time rushed on.
 
 A                                                     D                   
 Six years later father died in the very same bedroom. Many said it was the
 
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 grief that did it, I have to say it's cause he hung himself. To be honest
 
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 neither sister nor myself ever much regret his passing. But I admit it was
 
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 a nice thing, to always know that we could feed ourselves.
 
 -Ben Malley