C  F  G  C

[Verse 1]
C               F                  G                 C
 Monday morning sidewalk man, sits back to watch the show
    C             F               G          C
The rebar and the wet cement, transistor radio
   Am                  G           C                      F
He takes a pull from a paper bag, across the street on an old park bench
        C     Em7        Am7                     F                C
Oh, the big machines and rolled blueprints, stir something in his soul

[Verse 2]
C               F                   G           C
 A memory comes winding through the ruin of his mind
    C                F                G                  C
The hardhats and the heavy boots, the nail gun’s ringing whine
  Am                   G                C                F
A jungle with the same sharp sound, his brothers falling all around
         C          Em7         Am7                 F              C
Oh, they built them up, just to tear them down, and left him half alive

[Chorus]
F                         C        F                                 G
 Someday I’m gonna laugh about it, looking down from heaven’s golden plain
        C                                  F
But for now I found some peace down by the water,
        C                G              C
just to watch a building rise up in the rain

[Instrumental]
C  F  G  C  x2

[Verse 3]
   C                   F                  G              C
He waits each day till evening falls, the men all drive away
    C             F               G             C
The echo of their hammers linger, voices slowly fade
    Am               G                 C             F
The lights along the path come on, the scaffolding a skeleton
        C         Em7         Am7              F           C
All the things he dreamed and then forgot, the promises he made

[Chorus]
F                         C        F                                 G
 Someday I’m gonna laugh about it, looking down from heaven’s golden plain
        C                                  F
But for now I found some peace down by the water,
        C                G              Am
just to watch a building rise up in the rain
        C                G              C
just to watch a building rise up in the rain

[Bridge]
        F                               C             F                             G
And the moon shines on the river like a dream, and he smokes a cigarette and falls asleep
        C                                  F
And the wind it wanders slow through empty rooms without their walls
      C               G         C
And a silence settles over everything

[Instrumental]
C  F  G  C  x2

[Verse 4]
    C                  F           G           C
And from the ground it rises up, a riverside hotel
    C                F                   G           C
The sidewalk man, he comes to watch near every day until
    Am                 G                  C            F
The ribbon cut and the curtains hung, the reservations filled and gone
        C     Em7       Am7            F                C
And the owner tells him move along, go linger somewhere else

[Chorus]
F                         C        F                                 G
 Someday I’m gonna laugh about it, looking down from heaven’s golden plain
        C                                  F
But for now I found some peace down by the water,
        C                G              Am
just to watch a building rise up in the rain
        C                G              C
just to watch a building rise up in the rain