The Big Hurt
Words & Music by Wayne Shanklin
Recorded by Toni Fisher, 1959 (#3)


E              F
Now it begins, now that you've gone;

E                 F              Dm
Needles and pins, twilight till dawn.

E              C#7      A            Am7(V)
Watching that clock       till you return,

G#m           C#7   F#m      C#m7-5       B7
Lighting that torch      and watching it burn.


E  Esus4    E     F  C#7    F
Now  it  begins, day after day;

E  Esus4    E     F  C#7    F   Dm6
This is my night, ticking away.

E          C#7   A               Am7(V)
Waiting to hear   footsteps that say,

G#m           C#7   F#m    C#m7-5        B7
 “Love will appear      and this time to stay.”

Bridge:

E7  D9            E7 Bm7-5 A6   D9         AM7/6
Oh, each time you go,         I try to pretend

Am7 Am7(V)   Am7    B7           Fdim          B7
It's over at last, this time the big hurt will end.


E  Esus4   E     F  C#7          F
Now  it begins, now that you've gone;

E  Esus4    E     F  C#7           F   Dm6
Needles and pins,    twilight till dawn.

E          C#7 A            Am7(V)
But if you go,   come back again.

G#m      C#7   F#m    C#m7-5        B7
I wonder when,     oh when will it end?


Coda:

A9 Cdim  E   	 E  Dm6  E    E   Dm6  E   D9 Dm6  E 	
The big  hurt, the big hurt, the big hurt.



*Adapted from a chart provided to me by recent visitor Dennis, who also suggested the song. I'm probably the only one on the planet that thinks so, but to me the third line of the final verse would make more sense if it were written as "But if you don't come back again" - and to my ear, it sort of sounds like she could be using those words. At any rate, that's the way I sing it, but I'm showing the generally-accepted lyric transcription here.