C         G        D      G
Polly was girl not yet sixteen
  C              G           D
I met her by the lake in the fall
    C      G             D          G
Our love unfurled like a warm, sick dream
       Em                             D
It's a shame I had to go and waste it all

[Verse 2]
C              G           D           G
When we were together everything was alright
   C           G              D
We shared everything we could share
C           G                 D           G
Easy like a feather till that warm winter night
         Em                        D                            G
When she hit me with that under my spell and I couldn't let her go
                             Am
For the child that she would bear
                          D
My arms were turning into rope

[Pre-Chorus]
  C        G       D
I couldn't let her go
  C        G       D
I couldn't let her stay
  C      G      D          C       G      D
I buried pretty Polly in a poor, pathetic grave

[Chorus]
    Em           D        G             C       Em   D
Now she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay lay
    Em           D        G             C       Em   D
Ah, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay lay

[Verse 3]
C               G      D       G
Stranded in the Tivoli parking lot
   C       G         D
No gas, no money, no love
C             G              D            G
Promised to a promise that I wouldn't get caught
        Em                   D                          G
But the dark sky handed me a dove and I couldn't let it go
                   Am                    D
All the beauty up above I could never control
  C        G       D
I couldn't let her go

[Pre-Chorus]
  C        G       D
I couldn't let her go
  C        G       D
I couldn't let her stay
  C      G      D          C       G      D
I placed pretty Polly in a poor, pathetic grave

[Chorus]
         Em           D        G             C       Em   D
And then she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay lay
    Em           D        G             C       G    D   Em G    D     Em
Ah, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay lay

[Bridge]
  C        G       D
I couldn't let her go
  C        G       D
I couldn't let her stay
  C   G    D
I ran like hell
  C   G D
I ran a-way
  C   G    D
I ran like hell
          C    G      D
From that hell that I made
         C     G  D
From the mouth of babes
    C     G      D
The mouth of the babes
C    G      D
Poor pretty Polly
    C    G       D
The wolf and the prey

[Chorus]
         Em           D        G             C       Em   D
And then she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay lay
    Em           D        G             C       Em   D
Ah, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay lay
    Em           D        G             C
Ah, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay
Em       D        G        C
She lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay
Em       D            G        C                 Em
She lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay, she lay