Motherland

Words & Music:

Natalie Merchant

Em                    D    C                       G

Where in hell can you go?  Far from the things you know.

C                         G

Far from the sprawl of concrete.

                        D                         Em

That keeps crawling its way about a 1,000 miles a day.

Em                   D        C                      G

Take one last look behind; commit this to memory and mind.

C                               G

Don't miss this wasteland, this terrible place

          D                              Em

When you leave, keep your heart off your sleeve.

 

CHORUS:

      G            D            C                   G

Motherland, cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep.

       C                 G                       D  Dsus2  D

Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me, don't go.

          Em

Don't you go...

 

Oh, my five-and-dime queen, tell me, what have you seen?

The lust and the avarice, the bottomless, the cavernous greed.

Is that what you see?

 

CHORUS:

 

BRIDGE:

           C               G

It's your happiness I want most of all.

        C           A           D

And for that I'd do anything at all.  Oh, mercy me!

                C                G

If you want the best of it or the most of all

 

           C        A            D

If there's anything I can do at all.

 

INTERLUDE OVER:  C  G  C  A  D  Dsus2  D  Em

 

Now, come on, shotgun bride, what makes me envy your life?

Faceless, nameless, innocent, blameless and free.

What's it like to be?

 

CHORUS:

      D                     Em

Don't go.  Don't go.  Don't go.