The Tunnel Cifras

THE TUNNEL
As recorded by Lori McKenna
(From the 2023 Album 1988)
 
 
 
Capo 1st fret
 
 
 
[Intro]
G   C   G   C
 
 
[Verse 1]
         G
Near the old folk's home past Page Street and Ash
     C
That patch of woods next to the pink laundromat
    G                                                     C
The things you learn in middle school, you don't learn in class
           G
Stole some weed from your uncle, so we hopped the fence
       C
By the Section 8 housing, back when we were best friends
G                               C    D
You saw a brick wall, I found a path
                        C                 D
The smell of summer water with nowhere to go
                C
Hanging like vampires under the road
 
 
[Chorus]
               G
You said, "You can't get out the same way you came in"
   C
Fifteen, you're a kid, sixteen, it changes
      Em                          D                     C
Those walls could've caved in any second for all that I knew
     G
So I held my breath, said a prayer, and kept running
         C
Till the shape of the end took the afternoon sun in
        Em                       D                         C
I don't know how it works or how God picks who gets to get through
                                        D                     G
It just seems like a lot of life's been mostly the tunnel for you
 
 
[Verse 2]
G
Your dad sat on an upside-down bucket in the garage watching westerns
         C
With the sound turned down, a cold beer in his left hand
     G                                          C
Your mother called him in for dinner, then ate alone
       G
No one asks where you're going or asks how you've been
           C
And you're covered in tattoos, just under the skin
           G                                     C
But you're wearing those long sleeves, so nobody knows
D                      C                   D
I bet the road heading south is somebody's north
                     C
Just like somebody's darkness is somebody's torch
 
 
[Chorus]
          G
Yeah, you can't get out the same way you came in
      C
Still think like a kid when everything changes
      Em                          D                          C
Those walls could've caved in any second and blacked out the blue
      G
And I wanted to save you but I just did nothing
           C
Prayed the shape of the end takes the afternoon sun in
        Em                       D                         C
I don't know how it works or how God picks who gets to get through
                                        D                     G
It just seems like a lot of life's been mostly the tunnel for you
 
 
[Bridge]
          F                   C                         G
There's a light at the end, a light at the end, keep on running
          F                   C                        G
There's a light at the end, I promise, my friend, it's coming
          Bb                  Am7
There's a light at the end, a light at the end
 
 
[Outro]
G    Cadd9  G    Cadd9  G    Cadd9
X