Okkervil River – Famous Tracheotomies chords

[Verse 1]
G             DWhen I had my tracheotomy
       AmI was blue and had stopped breathing
              Em               CThere was something wrong with me
G                          DDoctors cut through the cartilage and skin
         AmAt the bottom of my throat
                C           Am          DAnd then they snaked that trach tube in

[Chorus 1]
         Bm              EmAnd I was one and a half
          AmI was my parents only kid
                 Em           CAnd they had lost two before that
 Bm            Em                           CAnd growing up, I always knew how close I'd come
                                  DWell, that must have been scary, Mom


[Verse 2]
G                      DGary Coleman, he was "Arnold" on TV
          Am                     Em              CWell, I grew up watching him and Conrad Bain and Kimberly
G                          DIt turns out that he had a trach scar too
           AmWhere they cut into his throat
              C            Am       DAnd then they threaded that tube through

[Chorus 2]
             Bm          EmBut that was much later on
        Am                                Em             CIn the year that he turned forty when his fanbase was all gone
        Bm                    EmAnd his health was so touch-and-go
           CHis girlfriend proposed
                         DBut they broke up on a TV show

[Verse 3]
G                     DMary Wells, she was known as Motown's Queen
        Am                     Em        CBut laryngeal cancer left her unable to sing
G                         DThey tried radiation, multiple surgeries
      Am                                  C   Am    DBut she didn't have insurance and lost almost everything

Poor thing

[Chorus 3]
     Bm                        EmBut Diana Ross helped with her bills
        Am                              Em           CAretha Franklin tried her very best to help out Mary Wells
       Bm                      EmAnd Dionne Warwick did all she could do
                     CAnd Mary Wells, she pulled through
                     DFor one more year or two

[Verse 4]
G                   DDylan Thomas looked completely pale and weak
      Am                      Em          COn a trip to New York City to promote his poety
G                                           DThree straight days of drinking out in Greenwich and Chelsea
       Am                     C         Am            DHe was taken to the hospital, turned blue and not breathing

[Chorus 4]
  Bm               EmAnd Caitlin Thomas said
          AmWhen she walked into St Vincent's
       Em               C"Is the bloody man dead yet?"
Bm                Em                             CAnd later that day she got so drunk she was restrained
                       DAnd her husband slipped away

[Verse 5]
G                DRay Davies had a tracheotomy
Am                                  Em           CHe was at St. Thomas' Hospital in London, aged thirteen
G               DAnd during his long recovery
      AmNurses put him in a wheelchair
           C             Am       DAnd they'd wheel him out onto a balcony (on a balcony)

[Chorus 5]
Bm                            EmAnd down that evening sun did sink
         Am                            Em                CPainting London and the river and that freaked-out future Kink
Bm                           EmWaterloo lit up for one sick kid
          C                       DAnd, at 23, he recorded a song about it

[Outro}
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