Voice chords by Ani DiFranco
Verse 1
Am
I don't know how far I'm going to have to
go to see my own self
or hear my own voice.
I tuned in on the radio
for hours
and never heard it. Then I went to the
movie picture show
and I never heard it there.
G
Am
F
I put handfuls of coins in the
Am
machines
Em
and watched records turn,
F
Am
but the voice there was
no voice of mine.
C
Am
F
I mean, it was not my voice,
Am
not the words that I hear in my own ears
Dm
Am
when I walk along and look at faces.
Dm
Am
Dm
Am
Em
Am
Dm
I sit here in a Jewish delicatessen
C
Am
and I order a hot pastrami
C
sandwich on rye bread
G
C
and I hear the lady ask me,
Dm
Am
Dm
Am
would you like to have a portion
Dm
Am
F
of coleslaw on the side?
Am
And I know when I hear her speak
Dm
F
Am
that she has my voice.
And I tell her I would like my coleslaw on a side dish,
please.
C
Am
And I'd like to have a glass of tea with lemon,
please.
And she knows that
I'm speaking her
And a fellow sat across the table
near my wall.
C
And he spoke as he ate his salami
Dm
Am
and drank his beer.
And somehow I had the feeling
as I heard him speak.
And he spoke a long time.
Dm
Am
not one word was my personal language.
C
Dm
G
Am
But I could tell by the deep sound,
F
Am
the full tone of his voice,
C
G
Em
that he spoke my language.
C
Am
And I suppose you may wonder
C
Am
just how he could speak in a dialect
Dm
C
Am
that I could not savvy or understand,
Dm
and yet I understood every
Am
C
G
C
sound that he made.
Am
I learned to do this a
F
Am
C
F
long time ago,
Am
C
F
walking up and down the side roads
Am
F
Am
G
F
and the main stems of this land here.
Am
C
I learned to listen this way
F
Am
when I washed dishes on ships,
F
Am
F
Am
Dm
Am
F
and I had to learn how to I knew it when I walked ashore in Africa, and in Scotland, and Ireland, Britain,
Am
Dm
Am
Dm
G
C
and London, and Britain, an d London, Glasgow, and Liverpool, and Glasgow, and Scots, an d Scotstown,
Am
and Anglo's farms,
Em
G
F
C
and Irish canals, and railroad bridges,
F
Am
C
and Highlanders' cows, and horses.
F
Am
here, I knew the speech was
C
F
the same as mine,
Am
C
Am
But it was the dialect again.
C
F
Am
Nasal, nasal, throaty, and deep, and and chesty,
chesty from the stomach, from the lungs,
C
F
Am
from high, up in the head,
Dm
C
Am
from pitch up, pitch up and down.
C
And here I had to learn
F
Am
F
Am
C
again to say,
G
Am
C
F
Am
this is my language.
C
Dm
This is part of my voice
Am
C
Dm
C
Am
C
Am
Oh,
C
Am
Dm
Bb
Am
G
C
F
Am
but I have not even heard this voice
F
Am
These voices on the stages
and screens
F
And on radios and records
Am
Dm
Am
and jukeboxes and magazines,
or in newspapers,
C
Am
C
seldom in courtrooms,
Am
Em
F
and more seldom when students and policemen are study
Am
Em
F
Am
Dm
Em
F
ing the faces behind the voices.
Am
And I thought as I saw a drunk
Em
F
en street -walking man
Am
C
F
mutter and spit and curse into the wind
Am
F
outside of the cafe's plate glass
Am
F
C
Am
that maybe if I look closer
F
Am
I might hear some more
C
Am
F
of my voice
Am
And I ate as quiet as I could
F
Am
so as to keep my eyes and my ears
F
C
F
Am
Em
C
F
and my feelings wide open
Am
Dm
Am
And I did hear, I heard all that I came
C
Am
to hear here in Coney Island's Jewish air.
G
Am
I heard reflections, recollections,
C
Am
seen faces in memory.
I heard voices untangle
their words before me.
And I knew by the feeling that I felt
Dm
Dm
Am
Em
C
F
Am
that here was my voice.
Am
Dm
Am
F
Am
F
G
Am
Am
Am
Am
Bb
Bb
Am
You
Voice
Ani DiFranco
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