Intro -x2-: C9  G5  Cadd9
 
Verse 1:
    C9      G5          Cadd9
The war was over, I was living with my folks
  C9       G5                    A7               D
I yelled upstairs, "hey ma', I'm off to grab some smokes"
       G      B7           Em                   A
And my father called, "why you need to smoke so late?"
       C
Well I lied, I had a date
 
Pre-Chorus:
G
Free from my folk's enslavement
B7
Skippin' along the pavement
   G        Em7       A
To see a brunette who I never met
      A  -nc-                                         G  Gb G Gb G
But I never would forget how she looked in that dress
                      B7                           B    Em7
How she stuck out her hand and said, "My name is Cecily Smith
                    A
And I hope you like music
                    G              B7
'Cause I've got two tickets for La Traviata"
Em          G       G        -nc-
That's when I said "I hate opera"
 
Chorus:
    C                      G                  C                  G
She laughed and said "well lucky for you that you're with Cecily Smith-
    C                  G                  C                    Em7
who cares what you are listening to, it's who you're listening with
 
Interlude -x2-: C9  G5  Cadd9
 
Verse 2:
      C9       G5                   Cadd9
So we take our seats her hands were folded in her lap
   C9    G5             A7               D
if not a kiss then I at least will get a nap
     G        B           Em         A
So I close my eyes as the ochestra begins
     C              C  
Then I hear violins
 
Pre-Chorus:
        G
and the hair on my neck was rising
  B7
A feeling new and surprising
       G              Em7                    A
But it wasn't the sound that made my heart pound
       A  -nc-                                 G  Gb G Gb G
No, it was because I found her hand is in mine
                         B7                         B   Em7
and that's where it will stay until they play the final chord
           G        A
She says, "were you bored?"
              G               B7                      Em        G       G        -nc-
And I say, "I guess it wasn't quite so bad it was the best time that I've ever had."
 
Chorus:
    C                       G                   C                    G
She laughed and said, "well lucky for you I got seats to Beethoven's fifth
    C                  G                  C                    Em7
who cares what you are listening to, it's who you're listening with"
 
Interlude:
Gsus2  C  Cmaj7
 
Am7 Em7 Gsus2 C Cmaj7
 
Am7 Em7   Gsus2  C    Cmaj7
A   per-  fect   wife
 
Am7 Em7   Gsus2  C     Dsus4  D
A   per-  fect   life
 
Verse 3:
    C9     G5            Cadd9
The time exploded like a bullet from a gun
  C9      G5              A7             D
A week, a year and then a marriage and a son
       G      B       Em                 A
and a rental  where I still can hear her laugh
       C                   C  
When I play the phonograph
 
Pre-Chorus:
     G
So I let the music guide me
    B7
As Cecily sits beside me
  G                       A
A girl of nineteen with a nervous marine
       D
Feel her head begin to lean
-nc-                G  Gb G Gb G
As the melody soars
                  B7                                 Em
And though it was real it doesn't feel like it could be
                    A
That night when you said to me
                   G              B7         Em  G  G    -nc-
That "I've got two tickets for La Traviata"
 
Chorus:
     C                G                  C               G
It's sad but true how much I miss you, I miss you Cecily Smith
C               G                      C                    -nc-
Life is not the things that we do it's who we're doing them with
 
Outro -x2-: C9  G5  Cadd9