A Church Is Burning
by Paul Simon
from "The Paul Simon Songbook."
Transcribed By Antonio Calado Lopes (calado.lopes@mail.telepac.pt).
A Church Is Burning
(Eb) Bb Ab Eb Bb Eb Ab Bb Eb Bb Eb
A church is burning the flames rise higher
Gm Fm Ab Bb Fm7
Like hands that are praying aglow in the sky
Bb Eb Ab Gm Fm Eb
Like hands that are praying the fire is saying
Ab Eb Bb7 Eb Bb
"You can burn down my churches but I shall be free."
Fm Eb
Three hooded men through the back-roads did creep
Fm Eb
Torches in their hands while the village lies asleep
Ab Fm Eb Db Eb Ab Fm Eb
Down to the churches where just hours before voices were singing and
Ab Fm Eb Ab Bb Eb Bb7 Eb
Hands were beating and saying I won't be a slave anymore
A church is burning the flames rise higher
Like hands that are praying aglow in the sky
Like hands that are praying the fire is saying
"You can burn down my churches but I shall be free."
Fm Eb
Three hooded men, their hands lit the spark
Fm Eb
Then they faded in the night and they vanished in the dark
Ab Fm Eb Ab Fm Eb
And in the cold light of morning there's nothing that remains
Ab Eb Bb7 Eb
But the ashes of a Bible and a can of kerosene.
A church is burning the flames rise higher
Like hands that are praying aglow in the sky
Like hands that are praying the fire is saying
"You can burn down my churches but I shall be free."
A church is more than timber and stone
And freedom is a dark road when you're walking it alone,
But the future is now and it's time to take a stand
So the lost bells of freedom can ring out in my land.
A church is burning the flames rise higher
Like hands that are praying aglow in the sky
Like hands that are praying the fire is saying
Ab Fm Eb Cm Ab Bb Ab Fm Eb
"You can burn down my churches but I shall be free."
outro:
Bb Eb Fm Eb Bb Eb
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