Source Decay

E|------------------------------------------| 

E  A  E   A

E
Once a week I make the drive
F#5                          A
two hours east to check the Austin post office box.
E                      F#5
I take the detour through our old neighborhood,
                A                         B
see all the Chevy Impalas in their front yards up on blocks,
       A                      B
and I park in an alley and I read through the postcards
          E               A
that you continue to send:
          F#5                        A
where as indirectly as you can you ask what I remember.
               E                      B
I like these torture devices from my old best friend.
           C#m
Well I'll tell you what I know
         F#
like I swore I always would --
         A                 B
I don't think it's gonna do you any good:
     E          A             E           A       B     A         E
I remember the train headed south out of Bangkok down toward the water.

A E A E


E
I always get a late start,
          F#5
when the sun's going down
         A
and the traffic's thinning out
         E
and the glare is hard to take. I wish the
E                        F#5
West Texas highway was a Möbius strip --
         A                           B
I could ride it out forever. When I feel my heart break,
          A                                 B
I almost swear I hear it happen, it's that clear and that hard.
   E                             A
I come in off the highway and I park in my front yard.
   C#m
I fall out of the car
        F#
like a hostage from a plane,
A
think of you a while and
       B
start wishing it would rain.
E              A            E            A       B     A         E
I remember the train headed south out of Bangkok down toward the water.

A E A E

  E
I come into the house,
     F#5
put on a pot of coffee,
A                       E
walk the floors a little while.
E                                  F#5
I set the postcard on a table with all the others like it,
A                         B
start sorting through the pile.
A
I check the pictures and the postmarks
         B
and the captions and the stamps
     E                       A
for signs of any pattern at all.
        F#5                                 A
When I come up empty-handed, the feeling almost overwhelms me.
E                 B
I let a few of my defenses fall
        C#m                             F#
and I smile a bitter smile - it's not a pretty thing to see --
         A                                 B
I think about a railroad platform back in 1983
       E            A           E            A       B     A         E
and I remember the train headed south out of Bangkok down toward the water