Em Em

[Verse 1]
Em         C         D         G
Chicago is where the woman downstairs
Am                 B7           Em
Starved herself to death last summer

Em            C       D           G
Her boyfriend Ted ate hotdogs and wept
Am                 B7         Em
With the grey rats out on the fire escape

Em                C             D        G
In a thrift store chair I drank cases of beer
Am                   B7         Em
And dreamed of lying down on the L-tracks

Em                C        D          G
The trains roared by under smoke grey skies
Am            B7                   Em
Lake Michigan rose and fell like a bird

[Chorus]
             C    D                   G
And when the wind screamed up Ashland Avenue
    C                D       G
The corner bars were full by noon
        C            D                  G
And the old stewbums sliding down their stools
Am                  B7                Em
Ate boiled eggs and fed beer to their dogs

[Instrumental Break]
Em C D G Am B7 Em

[Verse 2]
Em            C      D            G
The woman downstairs lost all her hair
Am         B7             Em
And wore a beret in the laundry room

Em             C        D            G
I borrowed her soap and bought her a coke
Am      B7              Em
But she left it on the dryer

Em          C    D               G
She died in June weighing eighty-two
Am            B7               Em
Her boyfriend went back to New York

Em                C       D         G
The cops wandered through her dusty rooms
Am          B7         Em
One of them stole her TV

[Chorus]
             C    D                   G
And when the wind screamed up Ashland Avenue
    C                D       G
The corner bars were full by noon
        C            D                  G
And the old stewbums sliding down their stools
Am                  B7                Em
Ate boiled eggs and fed beer to their dogs

[Outro]
Em C D G C D G

C D G Am B7 Em

Em C D G Am B7 Em