Standard (EADGBE)

Intro

Down by Okkervil River

slow silent thick and black,

I stared into the water,

and the water it stared back.

The night it fell from tangles

of the branches on the shore

as it had on Okkervil River before.

Down by Okkervil River,

cigarettes and rusty tires,

we made ourselves an altar,

we lit our nightly fires.

And the smoke lay thick and smothered

all the skunk cabbage and vines

where Gods were born and Gods lay down to die.

With your hand inside my pocket,

you whispered in my ear;

We have come from ugliness

to find some refuge here.

With this bracken for a blanket,

where these limbs stick out like bones,

we have found a place where we can be alone.

And I tried to tell you,

as I kissed your hard dry lips,

all the things I dreamed about.

I touched your bone white hips.

Far away our parents slept in

while we watched our fire burn.

They dreamed of nothing and got nothing in return.

And the water slipped on slowly

past our bodies in the weeds,

pulling plastic wrap and razors

on its current through the reeds.

Then I woke up one cold morning,

felt an absence at my back,

and I searched and stared but only the river stared back.

(end

)

and I searched and stared but only the river stared back.

Between, "And the water slipped on slowly," to "On it's current through the reeds," use

one strum per chord, it'll sound like the recording. On the last line also if you like.

The chords are set to the words, listen to the song a couple times and it should be

easy. Simple as 4 chords, hope this is decent.