G Bm Am D
G Bm Am D

[VERSE 1]
G                        Am             D            G
These days my life seems somehow like a tired old cliché
      Am               D                G
A bad movie scene that just goes on and on
                     Am              D               G
With dialogue like " It's so sad how fast time slips away"
        Am                D                  G
Or "You never really miss them until they're gone"
Am              D                G
Funny how those old clichés come true
Am                  C               D
I never thought I'd miss him, but I do

[CHORUS]
G                 Am      G               Am       D
My father died in summer, and all he left behind
G                     Am     G      Bm        Am     D
Were little scraps of paper, little scraps of rhyme
  Am                 D                   G
I read them and felt something inside me break
    Bm                               Am       D
And angrily cried out "Too late, too late!"
G            Bm                Am       D
Surely there must be something better?
G            Bm                Am       D
Surely there must be something better?

[VERSE 2]
       G             Am         D                 G
He and I were always strangers, searching for someone
      Am            D              G
I was looking for a hero, and he a friend
                           Am             D               G
So while I searched for my father, he was looking for his son
     Am            D                G
And strangers we remained until the end
        Am                D                G
But the man who wrote his heart into these rhymes
            Am            C                     D
I know that he could have been a good friend of mine

[CHORUS]
G                 Am      G               Am       D
My father died in summer, and all he left behind
G                     Am     G      Bm        Am     D
Were little scraps of paper, little scraps of rhyme
  Am                 D                   G
I read them and felt something inside me break
    Bm                               Am       D
And angrily cried out "Too late, too late!"
G            Bm                Am       D
Surely there must be something better?
G            Bm                Am       D
Surely there must be something better?

[VERSE 3]
G                      Am                    D                G
So I sit here where he lived and died as the ghosts around me weave
        Am              D               G
And the evening shadows lengthen on the wall
                     Am              D         G
And in this dark and empty room it's easy to believe
        Am            D        G
That he never, really lived at all
        Am               D           G
But the little scraps of paper in my hand
Am                C                     D
Prove he lived to me — a father and a man

[CHORUS]
G                 Am      G               Am       D
My father died in summer, and all he left behind
G                     Am     G      Bm        Am     D
Were little scraps of paper, little scraps of rhyme
  Am                 D                   G
I read them and felt something inside me break
    Bm                               Am       D
And angrily cried out "Too late, too late!"
G            Bm                Am       D
Surely there must be something better?
G            Bm                Am       D
Surely there must be something better?