Family Hands(Chords)

	        Intro: F Bb F Bb C F  
Verse 1:
  
 F             F/A                      Bb F/A Gm  
 Last Sunday we got in the car and we drove  
         C             C7              F        Bb/D   C7  
 To the town you were raised in, your boyhood home  
 F                   F/A      Bb F/A    Gm                             
 The trees were just turning, up on the ridge  
 C                  C7         F              Bb/D    C7  
 And this was your valley when you were a kid  
 F                  F/A                Bb  F/A     Gm                                      
 You showed me the railroad that your daddy worked on  
        C              C7              F                Bb/D    C7  
 As we neared the old house where your granny lives on  
        F             F/A                  Bb     F/A       Gm                                          
 She's nearing ninety years now, with her daughters by her side  
      C                       C7           F              F C/E  
 Who tend the places in the heart where loneliness can hide  

    Dm7           C               Bb    C        F  C/E  
 Raised by the women who are stronger than you know  
    Dm7                C            Gm              C7  
 A patchwork quilt of memory only women could have sewn  
        F                     F7+               F7             F6  
 The threads were stitched by family hands, protected from the moth  
          Gm   F/A          Bb     Gm    C7              F         
 By your mother... and her mother, the weavers of your cloth
  

C/E Dm Bb C7 

Verse 2:
 
 F                F/A           Bb F/A Gm    
 Your grandmother owned a gun in 1932  
       C                   C7                       F         Bb/D C7 
 When times were bad just everywhere, you said she used it too  
          F                F/A          Bb     F/A    Gm 
 And the life and times of everyone are traced inside their palms  
      C                  C7                     F             Bb/D C7 
 Her skin may be so weathered, but her grip is still so strong  
     F                  F/A            Bb   F/A      Gm 
 And I see your eyes belong to her and too your mama too  
 C               C7                F                  Bb/D C    
 A slice of Virginia sky, the clearest shade of blue  
  
F F/A Bb F/A Gm C7 F C/E 

 
    Dm7           C               Bb    C        F  C/E  
 Raised by the women who are stronger than you know  
    Dm7                C            Gm              C7  
 A patchwork quilt of memory only women could have sewn  
        F                     F7+               F7             F6  
 The threads were stitched by family hands, protected from the moth  
          Gm  F/A            Bb   Gm      C7              F          
 By your mother... and her mother, the weavers of your cloth
  
  
C/E Dm Bb C7 Bb F F/A Gm C Dm C/E F Bb C Dm G Gm C 
Verse 3:
  
        F                  F/A             Bb   F/A          Gm 
 And a rich man you might never be, they'd love you just the same  
         C               C7            F                   Bb/D C 
 They've handed down so much to you besides your Christian name  
           F               F/A               Bb     F/A   Gm 
 And the spoken word won't heal you like the laying on of hands  
   C              C7                  F       C/E 
 Belonging to the ones who raised you to a man  

  
 
    Dm7           C               Bb    C        F  C/E  
 Raised by the women who are stronger than you know  
    Dm7                C            Gm              C7  
 A patchwork quilt of memory only women could have sewn  
        F                     F7+               F7             F6  
 The threads were stitched by family hands, protected from the moth  
          Gm      F/A      Bb    Gm      C7              F          
 By your mother... and her mother, the weavers of your cloth


Dm Bb F/A Bb F C/E Dm C Bb C7 F
	        

Written by Mary Chapin Carpenter