THE SCAFFOLD by ELTON JOHN
from the album EMPTY SKY (1969)

[INTRO]
D  F#/C#  C#

[VERSE 1]
F#                         
  In Orient where wise I was 
G#
  To please the way I live
G#m7
  Come give the beggar chance at hand
                   F#
His life is on his lip
F#                             
  Three score a thousand times
      G#
Where once in Amazon
      G#m7
Where Eldorado holds the key
                   F#
No keeper holds my hand

[PRECHORUS 1]
  Bbm               Ebm
Unchain the gate of solitude
                   F#/C#
The ruler says you run
                  Ab/C
Run hard unto the scaffold high
D7             F#/C#              C#
  Your chance to     jump the gun

[CHORUS 1]
F#
  Oh how high the scaffold grows
    C#7                F#
The plant life of your widow
   F#
In black lace curtains brought you near
     C#7
From out the plate glass window

F#
  Oh how high the scaffold grows
    C#7                F#
The plant life of your widow
   F#
In black lace curtains brought you near
     C#7                 F#
From out the plate glass window

[VERSE 2]
F#
  The Minotaur with bloody hands
   G#
Is   enraged by the sun
G#m7
  Caged he by the corpses
                     F#
Brought forth by the dawn
F#
  In Orient is as I told
    G#
The buckshee hangman swears
G#m7
  For open crypts to silence
                     F#
Nylon knots to sway by prayer

[PRECHORUS 2]
  Bbm               Ebm
Unchain the gate of solitude
                   F#/C#
The ruler says you run
                  Ab/C
Run hard unto the scaffold high
D7             F#/C#              C#
  Your chance to     jump the gun

[CHORUS 2]
F#
  Oh how high the scaffold grows
    C#7                F#
The plant life of your widow
   F#
In black lace curtains brought you near
     C#7
From out the plate glass window

F#
  Oh how high the scaffold grows
    C#7                F#
The plant life of your widow
   F#
In black lace curtains brought you near
     C#7                 F#
From out the plate glass window

[Outro]
F#                         
  In Orient where wise I was 
   G#
To please the way I live
   G#m7
Come    give the beggar chance at hand
                   F#
His life is on his lip