How long, O Lord, How long? — Nashville Number Chart Key: Bb major | 144 BPM | 4/4 3m=Dm 4=Eb 5=F 6m=Gm 1=Bb Public domain (CC0). Transcribed from the audio — verify by ear. ================================================== [Intro (a lone harmonica cry in the dark, one guitar tuned low and slow, a Hammond breathing under -- a man at the end of himself, near-spoken)] 4 4 (How long...) 1 1 ((how long)) 1 1 (How long, O Lord...) [Verse 1 (weary, near-spoken, harmonica falling between the lines)] 1 1 5 5 5 (Don't rebuke me in Your anger, Lord, don't chasten me in heat --) 4 4 4 1 1 (I'm weak as the last of the candle, got no ground beneath my feet.) 1 1 1 1 5 (My bones are vexed and rattling like a gate the wind blows wide,) 5 5 4 4 4 (and my soul is sore and sinking, Lord, with no place left to hide.) [Verse 2 (the shuffle eases in -- brushes on the snare, a walking bass, the organ low)] 1 1 1 1 1 (I've been counting the cracks in the ceiling since the last of the daylight died,) 1 5 5 5 4 (and the question keeps on turning -- how long, how long? -- while I lie here on my side.) 4 4 1 1 1 (There's a river running through my bed, I have watered my couch with my tears,) 5 5 5 6m 6m (and my eye is consumed with the grieving, growing old while no morning draws near.) [Pre-Chorus (the band leans up, aching but reaching -- no answer yet, only the cry)] 6m 4 4 4 5 (So I lift it from the bottom, from the cold floor where I've knelt --) 5 5 1 1 1 (one cry the whole night carries, the only prayer I've got left:) [Chorus (simple, holdable -- a whole room can carry it)] 5 1 1 1 1 (How long, O Lord, how long? Have mercy, hear me pray.) 1 5 1 1 1 (I am weak -- so heal me -- O hide not Your face away.) 1 1 4 4 1 (Return, come down and find me, O save me for love's own sake;) 1 5 6m 5 1 (in the watches of the weeping, hold a heart about to break.) [Verse 3 (the pit at its deepest -- back to near-spoken, the Hammond humming, the enemies circling)] 1 1 1 1 1 (For the dead can't sing Your praises, and the grave keeps no account,) 5 5 5 5 4 (so I'm crying from the living side of the ground where Your mercies count.) 4 4 1 1 6m (And the ones who'd see me under, Lord, they are circling, closing near --) 1 1 1 5 5 (but I've cried my last down to the bone, I've got no strength but this prayer.) [Chorus (the same tune -- congregation starting to join; a first grey shade at the sill)] 3m 4 4 4 5 (How long, O Lord, how long? Have mercy, hear me pray.) 5 5 1 1 5 (I am weak -- so heal me -- O hide not Your face away.) 5 1 1 1 1 (Return, come down and find me, O save me for love's own sake;) 1 5 1 1 1 (in the watches of the weeping, hold a heart about to break.) [Bridge -- THE TURN (dawn breaks; half-spoken rising to a shout, the B3 opens all the way, harmonica soaring)] 1 1 4 1 1 (Get away from me now, all you workers of the wrong (get out) --) 5 6m 5 5 1 (for the Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping all night long.) 1 4 4 1 1 (He has heard my supplication (it was never, no never in vain) --) 1 5 5 5 5 (and He will receive my prayer like the dry ground drinks the rain.) 4 4 1 1 1 (So lift up your head, O weary (lift it up now) -- the long night's turning gold,) 1 6m 6m 6m 4 (He was near through all of the darkness -- He was closer than the cold.) [Final Chorus / Outro (the dawn is real and it has come -- same melody as the question, now the answer; full band, congregation, harmonica over the top)] 4 4 5 5 5 (Not long, O Lord, not long -- You heard me when I prayed.) 1 1 1 6m 6m (I was weak -- but You have healed me -- You never turned away.) 1 6m 1 5 5 (You have returned and found me, You have saved me for love's own sake;) 1 1 1 1 4 (in the watches of the weeping, You held a heart about to break.) 1 1 1 6m 5 ((He heard me, He heard me) -- mercy's breaking like the day.) 5 1 1 1 1 ((He heard me, He heard me) -- and the weeping's turned to praise.) 1 5 1 1 1 (Not long, O Lord -- not long now... the morning's on its way.)