The first time I heard this song it hit me between the eyeballs with vignettes of family, love, and loss. I love love bridges. In my day job I see references to the Army Corps of Engineers almost daily. I work in downtown Fort Myers on the edge of Centennial Park with a window overlooking the U.S. 41 bridge over the Caloosahatchee River. Lunch hours are spent on a bench in the park overlooking the river. I have written dozens of songs there. My family moved to Florida in 1969 and crossed that bridge for the first of thousands of times, about fifty years after the Army Corps of Engineers widened, dredged and straightened the Caloosahatchee River as part of creating an inter-coastal waterway.
lyrics
The Great Unknowns - Army Corps of Engineers
Words and Music by Becky Warren Capo II on Becky’s guitar no capo on Avril Smiths lead guitar
Verse
[A] First April without you
I [D] went down to the [A] bridge
and I [D] gathered all my [A] ghosts and threw them [E] in
And the [A] Army Corps of Engineers
Well they [D] built that [A] canal
Yeah you [D] told me all a [A] bout it when I was [E] ten
Lift 1
[Bm] Some things you never get [E] used to
[Bm] Some things you cannot learn to [E] love
Chorus
But [A] this [E] too will pass a [Bm] way
Like your [A] breath on a [E] window
On a [Bm] cold winter’s day
Like a [A] radio [E] signal down a [Bm] long [B2] high [Bm] way
This [A] too is gonna [E] pass a [A] way
Verse
The [A] day you left for Baghdad
We [D] stood along the [A] road
And you [D] promised you’d come [A] home in one [E] piece
I [A] know
that you [D] tried to make it [A] true
But [D] first I lost [A] you
Then you lost [E] me
Repeat Lift 1/Chorus
Verse
The [A] sound of your voice
When you [D] tell me it’s all [A] right
And [D] waking in the [A] night with you be [E] side me
[A] Turning on the radio
As [D] loud as it’ll [A] go
As we [D] drive out to a [A] show on fifty-[E] three
Lift 2
[Bm] The way you tell me I’m [E] your girl
[Bm] And the way you sing when you know every [E] word
Repeat Chorus
Yeah it’s [A] all gonna [E] pass a [A] way
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