When I Kept Silence — Nashville Number Chart
Key: Bb minor   |   60 BPM   |   4/4
4=Eb  b6=Gb  b7=Ab  1m=Bbm   (minor-tonic numbering)
Public domain (CC0). Transcribed from the audio — verify by ear.
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[Intro (electric guitar alone, crying — long bends, lots of space)]

[Verse 1 (voice and guitar; bass and drums enter underneath)]
  1m 4 1m    (I said nothing for a year.)
  4 4 1m 1m    (I sat at every table, I ate every meal,)
  b7 b7    (I answered to my name,)
  1m 4 b7    (and I never said a word.)

[Verse 2]
  b7 b6 b7    (My bones went old inside my skin.)
  1m 1m 1m 1m    (I was roaring, and no sound ever came out.)
  b7 b7 b6    (The summer burned the water out of me)
  b7 1m    (and I called it peace.)

[Chorus (the guitar fights the beat; drums stay immovable)]
  1m 1m    (When I kept silence,)
  1m b7    (when I kept silence —)
  b7 b6    (it was never peace,)
  b7 1m    (it was drought,)
  1m 1m 1m    (it was Your hand on me.)

[Verse 3]
  b7 b7 b6    (Every night You laid it on,)
  b7 1m 1m    (heavy as a hand across my chest.)
  1m b7 b7    (I was not getting away with it —)
  b6 b7 1m    (I was just not saying it.)

[Chorus]
  1m 1m    (When I kept silence,)
  1m b7    (when I kept silence —)
  b7 b6    (it was never peace,)
  b7 1m    (it was drought,)
  1m 1m 1m    (it was Your hand on me.)

[Bridge (the silence cracks — one line, almost spoken, nearly no band)]
  1m 1m    (I said... I will confess.)

[Outro (instrumental — the crying guitar alone, unresolved)]