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Outside Looking In

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Text File

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#


OUTSIDE LOOKING IN (Mary Chapin Carpenter)
------------------------------------------
[Actually in A; capo 2.]
[I'm unsure about the pre-chorus and bridge, where I've written
 F/A F/A Am Am.  It might in fact be Am Am F/A F/A.  Frankly, it
 sounds okay either way.  See which sounds best for you.]

G  F  Am  Am    G  F  Am  Am
[intro]

     G               D/F#   C/E               C
Everywhere I see the signs, pointing one direction
        G                 D/F#   C/E               C
No more twists or crooked turns, leaving room for doubt
        G                D/F#     C/E             C
Where I used to take the time for quiet and reflection
      G             D/F#     C/E           C
Now I only hear the noise of what I am without

           G                G           C(9)/G             C(9)/G
I see them walking hand in hand, and my eyes just want to linger
         G               G     C(9)/G                C(9)/G
On those golden wedding bands, wrapped around their fingers
       F/A          F/A    Am             Am
By the time I turn away, I feel it once again
              G                D/F#   Am7           C
I'm back in this familiar place, outside looking in

G  D/F#  Am7  C
[instrumental]

Baby, all the tears between us couldn't fill the spaces
And all the word we grasped at, they just fell away
I kept waiting on forgiveness to fix the broken places
But nothing even like it ever came my way

And tonight I drove around, and the street came up before me
I took a turn and then I found this old house coming toward me
I heard the sound a heart must make when a memory's caving in
Oh baby, what a hungry place, outside looking in

G  F  Am  Am    G  F  Am  Am
[instrumental]

         G               G         C(9)/G          C(9)/G
It's the hardest kind of need that never knows a reason
       G             G              C(9)/G             C(9)/G
Are we such a lonely breed, or just born in a lonely season
      F/A               F/A                Am           Am
Baby, it's all in the eyes, it's where the reckoning begins
              F/A            F/A                Am                Am
It's where we linger like a sigh, it's where we long to be pulled in
              F/A              F/A        Am           Am(?)
It's where we learn to say goodbye without saying anything
          G                D/F#       Am7      C
Standing on the borderline, outside looking in

G  D/F#  Am7  C    G  D/F#  Am7  C
[instrumental; repeat and fade]

- Adam Schneider, schneider@pobox.com