Empire Liquor Mart 9127 S Figueroa St

F#m                            B
The lady in the fishing vest
    F#            B
Has dropped the gun
C#m
Who wears a fishing vest
                                   A
When they're working at a liquor store?

C#m      F#m       B
I float up to the corner
c#m         F#m
Just above the ice cream
           B
And the frozen food
A             G#m      C#
I perch beside the surveillance

Camera...

[Interlude]

F#7              F#

                       A           F#
Only days after the trial
                      E                G#m
You could feel the tension rise
                          E
In the streets and in the rhythm
      F#          A
Of despair, of despair

                     A         F#
It was war after a while
                        C#m
In each neighbor's tired eyes
G#m                        E
  There was nothing to persuade them
          F#              A
To stand down, to stand down


A                   B
I float higher and higher
C#m                F#m
Friendly with the clouds
               B
That cover Southland...

[Interlude]

F#               Bbm

Bbm                   D#m
I watch the tender skyline
G#
Dancing, oh the terror -
C#          F#
On the long night
             Bbm
On the long flight
              G#
Blood, glass, burnt hair

D#
  These angry armies
     F#  Bb        D        C#
Quick advancing in position:
           F#            D#
On the rooftops, in the culverts
           F#
Stores are sacked while there's no one there

    Bbm           G#
Now two kinds of light
     C#
From fires and fixtures
     F#
They fill the sky
       C#       G#          C#
It was never so bright when I was young
          F#
I was too young to die

Bbm            D#m
On TV sets, in houses
G#
Effortlessly done in fancy colors
C#            F#          Bbm
All the righteous, all the newsmen
         G#
Speak of end times

D#                     F#
Why should they give a fuck
     Bb                       Dm
Some angry little black girl took a bullet?
C#                F#          D#
  Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
        F#
On the ones who've done the crime

    Bbm           G#
Now two kinds of light
     C#
From fires and fixtures
     F#
They fill the sky
       C#       G#          C#
It was never so bright when I was young
          F#
I was too young to die

[Interlude]

Bbm  D#m  G#  C#   F#   Bbm   G#  D#  F#

Bb  Dm  C#  F#  D#  F#


Bb                D#
 If I float even higher
C                      F#
Pattern and procession are uncovered
C#              D#         Bm
Flood and fire, flood and earthquake
           D#
Keep folks unmoored

Bb                    D#           C
   And the occasional celebrity car chase
    F#
Woo woo woo woo!
C#            D#                       E                  F#
 Just to keep God, Just to keep God from getting bored, from getting bored


    Bbm           G#
Now two kinds of light
     C#
From fires and fixtures
     F#
They fill the sky
       C#       G#          C#
It was never so bright when I was young
          F#
I was too young to die

[Interlude]

F#  Bb  C  G  C  A  F#m  E  C#m  B

A  Em  A  C  C  Dm  Em  F  F  G  G


        Gm            Dm           Am
When my grandma was a young woman East St. Louis
Em                       Bm
She thought the town was no good to us
F                              Am
  She took a Greyhound just as far as it could take her
         Em
Felt her maker in the waves
               D
You know, how God moves through us

[Interlude]

Dm  Am  Em  Bm  F#m  Am

C       D                   Dm
  I was six years old when we followed
    Am
My mother was twenty-two
Em                       Bm
The light was magic, the light was true

F
  She thought we'd moved
           Am
Beyond a sharecropper's debt
    Em                         D
But we were just a pawn in the accuser's bet

F                       Am
  Nobody reads from the Book of Job
         G                        Dm
At the church where me and my grandma go
F                  Am
Nobody sees the trouble I know
          G                      C
But I know that trouble's gonna find me

Dm  Am  Em  Bm  F#m  Am

C              D            Dm
  Three years later on a Thanksgiving
     Am
The light turned bitter
Em                      Bm
My grandmother didn't know what hit her

F                        Am
We got a chill from the cold white sun
       C
Momma found herself staring
        D
At the barrel of a gun

Dm                        Am
  That weren't enough, my uncle died too
Em
Shot through the chest back in East St. Louis

   F#m                Am
So one fine day my grandma lost two
Em
Took me in her arms and said
      D                 D
It's just me and you

F                       Am
  Nobody reads from the Book of Job
       G                           Dm
At the church where me and my grandma go
F                      Am
 Nobody sees the trouble I know
         G                        C
But I know that trouble's gonna find me  (x2)

       G#             F               C#            C
It'll find me, it'll find me, it'll find me, it'll find me   (x6)

        G#              F             C#
it'll find me, it'll find me, it'll find me

C  Fm  C# (x2)

Bbm            C        G#
So when I say that my untimely death
      C#
Was something certain
              F#
What I mean is that these tragedies
Bbm                  G#
  Are a kind of a family tradition

D#                F#    Bb
 So when I walk into the liquor store
              Dm              C#
That morning, bright and angry
               F#     D#
In a daydream of a boyfriend
       F#  Bb
I was fifteen

                D           B
Pick up a bottle of orange juice
                     G#m
And put it into my backpack
Gm                               Dm
  Head toward the counter with dollar bills
B                                G#
  And she accuse me of stealing that
F                           C#
  She pull my sweater and so I hit her
Bb                                B
  Put down the bottle don't want no trouble

C#                G#
Now two kinds of light
      C#
From fires and fixtures
        F#
They fill the sky
                  G#         C#
It was never so bright when I was young
            F#
I was too young to die


C#                G#
Now two kinds of light
      C#
From fires and fixtures
       F#
They fill the sky
                  G#         C#
It was never so bright when I was young
            F#m
I was too young to die

G#  G#m  C#m  B  A  F#m

                      A
I suppose it's no surprise
     F#                  C#m    G#m
To find myself about to die
                           E
But how long that silver moment
            F#
From the bullet
        A
To the floor

That right there was a lifetime
                        E     Bm   F#   A   C#
La da da da da, da da da da