Words and Music: Ten Thousand Candles

Today's song — one of only a dozen or so of mine that I'm still happy with, to be honest — takes us back to my scathing indictment of Andrew Jackson. I wrote this song around the time I learned about the Trail of Tears, though I didn't record it until years later.

This is a fine time to plug an excellent new American Experience series, called We Shall Remain, airing this month on WGBH — you can watch the Trail of Tears episode online and get learned!

Anyway, on to the chords and lyrics...



Ten Thousand Candles
© 2005 by Jon Gorey

Chords:
Am: x02210
Em/B: x22000
C: 032010
F: 133211
G: 320003
Fmaj7: x33210
E7: 022130
G/B: x20003

Intro: Am | Em/B | C | F | Am | Em/B | C | G

(Am) Ten thousand (Em/B) candles burn (C) just for a (F) lesson learned
(Am) Ten thousand (Em/B) hopes inside of (C) me (G)
(Am) I try to (Em/B) see the true (C) like all good (F) people do
(Am) They say the (Em/B) truth will set you (C) free (G)

(FMaj7) Tonight I (Am) hold tight
(FMaj7) Afraid of what I might (E7) see

(Am) How in the (G/B) wake of our fears
(C) We leave a (F) trail of tears (Am Em/B C G)
(Am) Ten thousand (G/B) candles burn
(C) For every (F) cry we hear (Am Em/B C G)

Verse 2:
So many skins we've shed, denying lives we've led
As if we leave the past behind
But time like a circle turns, ghosts like the wind return
The haunting histories of our times
Tonight by candlelight
I close my eyes that I might see
(Chorus)

Verse 3:
Inside a stranger's mind, it seems myself I find
Forgotten fears I recognize
With careful steps I tread upon the path ahead
Ten thousand candles light the sky
Tonight, impossible sunlight
I let the rapture carry me
(Chorus)