Hozier - Butchered Tongue: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "Butchered Tongue" on your guitar with our chord guide. This page provides everything you need to perform this song on the guitar, including lyrics integrated with chords, chord diagrams, and a key transposer to match your vocal range.

For easier playing, use our Simplify Chords feature to remove difficult chords like barre.

      Bm               D
As a child it was the place names
        Gmaj7         Bm
Singin' at me as the first thing
        Bm                A              F#sus4
How the mouth must be employed in every corner
     F#
of itself
        G        D             F#
To say "Appalacicola" or "Hushpukena",
           Gmaj7
like "Gweebarra"
   Em             A                D
A promise softly sung of somewhere else

Chorus:
          G                                Bm
And as a young man blessed to pass so many road
signs
             G                           A
And have my foreign ear made fresh again on
               F#m
each unlikely sound
             G               D          Bm
But feel at home, hearin' a music that few
           F#m
still understand
             Em                   A
A butchered tongue still singin' here
               D
above the ground

The ears were chopped from young men if the pitch
cap didn't kill them
They are buried without scalp in the shattered
bedrock of our home
You may never know your fortune
Until the distance has been shown between what
is lost forever
And what can still be known

Chorus:
So far from home to have a stranger call you,
"Darling"
And have your guarded heart be lifted like
a child up by the hand
In some town that just means 'Home' to them
With no translator left to sound
A butchered tongue still singin' here above
the ground



You can simplify chords by removing barre

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Simplify chords by removing barre

Guitar Chord Diagrams

A

Guitar chord A

Bm

Guitar chord Bm

D

Guitar chord D

Em

Guitar chord Em

F#

Guitar chord F#

F#m

Guitar chord F#m

F#sus4

Guitar chord F#sus4

G

Guitar chord G

Gmaj7

Guitar chord Gmaj7

Here you can see detailed diagrams for each guitar chord used in the song. Utilize our key transposer to adjust the chords to a key that better fits your singing range. Simply select the desired key, and the chords throughout this page will update automatically, ensuring you can play and sing comfortably.

If you are also interested in learning how to play "Butchered Tongue" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "Butchered Tongue" by Hozier.