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WILD MOUNTAIN THYME - Traditional #1
I usually play in C, capo at will.
C Fmaj7 C
O the simmer time is come
Fmaj7 C
And the trees are sweetly bloomin'
Fmaj7* C Am7
And the wild mountain thyme
Dm7 F
Grows around the bloomin' heather,
C F C
Will ye go, lassie, go
Fmaj7* Am7
And we'll all go together
Fmaj7 C Am
Tae pull wild mountain Thyme,
Dm7 F
All around the bloomin' heather,
C F C
Will ye go, lassie go.
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WILL YE GO, LASSIE?
(Wild Mountain Thyme) #2
G
Oh the summertime is coming
C G
And the trees are sweetly blooming
C G
And the wild mountain thyme
C
Grows around the blooming heather
G C G
Will ye go, Lassie go?
CHORUS
And we'll all go together
To pluck wild mountain thyme
All around the blooming heather
Will ye go, Lassie go?
I will build my love a tower
Near yon' pure crystal fountain
And on it I will build
All the flowers of the mountain
Will ye go, Lassie go?
If my true love she were gone
I would surely find another
Where wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather
Will ye go, Lassie go?
This has got to be the simplest chord structure ever written.
Funny how it's also one of the most haunting tunes, in'it?
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A HEART NEEDS A HOME
Richard Thompson
(guitar capo 3rd fret to play with "Hokey Pokey" recording)
(I sometimes use alternate chords in parentheses)
D C G Em G
I know the way that I feel about you
Em
(C/G) (G)
I'm never gonna run away
C/G G
I'm never gonna run away
D C G Em G
I never knew the way when I lived without you
Em
(C/G) (G)
I'm never gonna run away
C/G G
I'm never gonna run away
D C G
I came to you when no one could hear me
C G Am D
(C) (G) (Em) (D) (D/C) (D/B) (D/A)
I'm sick and weary of being alone
D C G
Empty streets and hungry faces
C G Am G
(C) (G) (Em) (C) (C/B)
The world's no place when you're on your own
G Em
(Am) (D)
A heart needs a home
D
Some people say that I should forget you
I'm never gonna be a fool
I'm never gonna be a fool
A better life, they say, if I'd never met you
I'm never gonna be a fool
I'm never gonna be a fool
Tongues talk fire and eyes cry rivers
Indian givers, hearts of stone
Paper ships and painted faces
The world's no place when you're on your own
A heart needs a home
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CALVARY CROSS
Richard Thompson - from "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight"
There is a low D drone throughout the intro; you can tune down
the low E string to D if you wish to play this.
Notes close together with hammerons and pulloffs
are played in one phrase. vvv=vibrato.
Notes in parantheses are fingered
but either not played or played quickly as grace notes.
(D Drone throughout intro)
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|----0-h2vvv--(4)b5--2-h4-p2-p0-----0--h2vvv----0-h2--h4--b5vvv-----|
-|-4-----------------------------4-----------------------------------|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|----------3vvv---3-b4-r3-s4-s5vvv---5--3-h5-p3-p0-----------------|
-|-2-----2-------------------------------------------4-b5vvv--------|
-|----0-------------------------------------------------------------|
-|------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-------3---------------------------------------------------------3vvv-|
-|-(4)b5---4-h5-p4-p2------0-h2vvv--4--2-h4-p2----0-h2---p0----0--------|
-|----------------------4-----------------------4-----------4-----------|
-|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|----------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|--3-----------------------------------------------------------3--5--s10--|
-|--------(0)-h2---4---4-b5-r4----2-h4-p2-p0------0-h2-------2-------------|
-|-----4---------------------------------------4----------0----------------|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|--10-b12-r10--8-h10-p8-s7--b8----7--7-h8-p7-p5---5-h7-(p5)-s3------|
-|---------------------------------------------------------------2---|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|----------------------------------------------3-----3-------------------|
-|-------------------------0--0-h2-p0--------------------0--h2--b4-r2 p0-|
-|--0--h4--s5----0--h4--5--------------4---s5-----------------------------|
-|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|------------------------------------------------3-------3-----3----|
-|---------------------------------------------3-----3----3-----3----|
-|------------(0)-h2-b4-r3-r2---------------0-------------0-----4----|
-|-0--(2)s4----------------------(4)-b5-r4----------------0-----5----|
-|--------------------------------------------------------------5----|
-|--------------------------------------------------------------3----|
with tremelo effect
F Am (F) G (slide an F barre form up two frets to play the G
chord)
F Am
G F Am
I was under the Calvary Cross
G F Am
The pale-face lady she said to me
G F Am
I've watched you with my one green eye.
G F Am
And I'll hurt you 'till you need me.
G F Am
You scuff your heels and you spit on your shoes.
G F Am
You do nothing with reason
G F Am
One day you catch a train
G F Am
Never leaves the station.
CHORUS
C
Everything you do
F (8th fret)
Everything you do
C G
You do for me
Now you can make believe on your tin whistle
You can be my broom boy
Scrub me 'till I shine in the dark
I'll be your light 'till doomsday
Black cat cross your path.
Why don't you follow
My claw's in you and my light's in you
This is your first day of sorrow
CHORUS
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CAN'T WIN
Richard Thompson
Bm11 E Dmaj7/E Esus4
I started to cry, they put gin in my cup
Dmaj7/E E Dmaj7 Esus4
I started to crawl and they swaddled me up
Dmaj7/E E Asus2/E E
I got up and run, they said, easy son
Asus2/E E
Play up, play the game
Dmaj7/E E Dmaj7/E Esus4
They told me to think and forget what I'd heard
Dmaj7/E E Dmaj7 Esus4
They told me to lie and then questioned my word
Dmaj7/E E Asus2/E E
They taught me to fail, better sink than sail
Asus2/E E
Just play the game
Em7 A/E Em7 A/E
Oh towers will tumble and locusts will visit the land
Em7 A/E Em7
F#m7b5
B9sus4
Oh a curse on your house and your children and the fruit of your hand
Em G
They said you can't win, you can't win
F#m7b5 Fmaj7b5
You sweat blood, you give in
Em G
You can't win, you can't win
F#m7b5 Fmaj7b5
Turn the cheek, take it on the chin
Em Em/D
Don't you dare do this don't you dare do that
C A7sus2
We shoot down dreams, we stiletto in the back
Em Em/D
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people
C
The nerve of some people
A7sus E Bm7
E Esus4
Bm11
I don't know who you think you are, who you think you are
Oh what kind of mother would hamstring her sons
Throw sand in their eyes and put ice on their tongues
Better to leave than stay here and grieve
And play the game
Don't waken the dead as you sleepwalk around
If you have a dream, brother, hush, not a sound
Stand there and rust, and die if you must
But play the game
Oh if we can't have it, why should a wretch like you?
Oh it was drilled in our heads, now we drill it into your head too
You can't win, you can't win
You sweat blood, you give in
You can't win, you can't win
Turn the cheek, take it on the chin
Don't you dare do this don't you dare do that
We harpoon dreams, we stiletto in the back
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people
The nerve of some people, the nerve of some people
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DEVONSIDE
by: Richard Thompson
album: Hand of Kindness
G C G
By Devonside, she was a-marchin'
G C G
It was a gang of no great size
G Bm C G
and "Surrender" was the banner that she carried
G D C G
and hungry was the shiver in her eyes.
(same for the rest of the song)
She met a boy, whose health was failing
She threw down her banner, and took her prize,
And the only food she had was bread and morphine
He fed on the shiver in her eyes
(solo over same chords - 1 verse long)
By Devonside, his love was drifting,
He looked for comfort, otherwise
And there never was a rope or chain about him
She held him with the shiver in her eyes
And she said, "My John, I'll be your pillow."
"I'll be your lover, mother, whore and wife."
And he knew that he had loved and never seen her,
When the light fell from the shiver in her eyes.
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DID SHE JUMP OR WAS SHE PUSHED?
Richard Thompson
Dm7sus4 (X 5 3 0 1 X)
Bm Add #5 (X 2 4 0 3 X)
Intro (2 times)
Dm7sus4 Bm (add#5)
Dm7sus4
She was there one minute,
Dm7sus4 Bm(add#5)
And then she was gone the next
Dm7sus4
Lying in a pool of herself
Dm7sus4 Bm(add#5)
with a twisted neck
G
Oh she fell from the roof to the ground
C???
There was glass lying all around
Dm C Bb A
She was broken in a hundred pieces when her body was found
Dm7sus4
She used to live life
Dm7sus4 Bm(add#5)
She used to live life with a vengeance
Dm7sus4
And the chosen would dance
Dm7sus4 Bm(add#5)
The chosen would dance in attendance
C G F
She crossed a lot of people
G F
Some she called friends
G
She thought she'd live forever
F
But forever always ends
Dm G
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
(Chorus riff)
D|-3-2-0-------0-------------|
A|-------3-0-3---------------|
(guitar solo)
She used to have style
She used to have stlye and she used it
And they say it turned bad
When the truth came round she refused it
They found some fingerprints
Right around her throat
They didn't find no killer and
They didn't find no note
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
Did She Jump or Was She Pushed?
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DIMMING OF THE DAY
Richard Thompson - from the album "Pour Down like Silver"
(Capo to whatever fret suits your vocal range)
VERSE 1
C G
This old house is falling down around my ears
F C G
I'm drowning in a river of my tears
C G
When all my will is gone, you hold me sway
F C G C
I need you at the dimming of the day.
Bridge
G D
Come the night you're only what I want
G D
Come the night you could be my confidant
G C F
Ah ah ah ah ah ant ah ah ant
VERSE 2
C G
I see you on the streets in company
F C G
Why don't you come and ease your mind with me
C G
Now all the morning birds have wheeled away
F C G C
I need you at the dimming of the day
Bridge 2
G D
You pull me like the moon pulls on the tide
G D
You know just where I keep my better side
G C F
i i i i i i ide
VERSE 3
C G
What days have come to keep us far apart?
F C G
A broken promise or a broken heart
C G
I'm ready for the night we steal away
F C G C
I need you at the dimming of the day
F C G C
I need you at the dimming of the day
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DON'T TEMPT ME
Richard Thompson
A5 B5 A5 B5 A5 B5
B5
That gorilla you're dancing with
May not have too long to live
He's putting his hands in the wrong places
Time to rearrange his face
He's gonna dance with me instead
I'm gonna tap dance on his head
A5 B5
Don't tempt me
A5 B5
Don't tempt me
A5 B5
Don't tempt me
E5
I'm half-way out of my seat
B5
He's got the looks, he's got the lolly
Driving me clean off my trolley
Doing the jitterbug, doing the jive
Doing the shimmy, snakes alive
That's not a dance, that's S-E-X
Ban that couple, certificate X!
A5 B5
Don't tempt me
A5 B5
Don't tempt me
A5 B5
Don't tempt me
E5
I'm half-way out of my seat
F#5 A5 G#5
Ooh I'm a patient man
F#5 A5 G#5
Ooh But its out of hand
F#5 A5 G#5 C#5
If there's one thing I can't stand
B5
Get yer mittens off my gal
Or you'll end up as mincemeat pal
I've got friends, mean sons
They've got knives, chains, guns
Gas, grenades, knuckle-dusters,
Lazy Susans, Blockbusters
Guitar Solo
B5 B5 D5 D5 G5 G5 E5 E5 B5 B5 B5 B5
A5 B5 A5 B5 A5 B5
B5
I'm sitting here, calm as I can
While you polish the floor with another man
I'm not mad, I'm a cuddly toy
Just keep me away from laughing boy
You say he's a relative, some hope
If he's your uncle, I'm the Pope!
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DOWN WHERE THE DRUNKARDS ROLL
Richard Thompson
(capo 3rd fret to play with record. Song is recorded in Bb,
but written here in G)
G
See the boys out walking
C G
The boys who look so fine
C G
Dressed up in green velvet
C G
Their silver buckles shine
G
Soon they'll be bleary-eyed
D C
Under a keg of wine
CHORUS
C/G D
Down where the drunkards roll
C/G D
Down where the drunkards roll
See that lover standing
Staring at the ground
He's looking for the real thing
Lies were all he found
You can get the real thing
It will only cost a pound
There goes a troubled woman
She dreams a troubled dream
She lives out on the highway
She keeps her money clean
Soon she'll be returning
To the place where she's the queen
You can be a gambler
Who never drew a hand
You can be a sailor
Who never left dry land
You can be lord Jesus
All the world will understand
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THE END OF THE RAINBOW
Richard Thompson
(Capo 3rd fret, recorded in Cm, transcribed in Am)
The C(?) doesn't sound quite right, corrections welcomed.
Am F
I feel for you, you little horror
Dm G
Safe at your mother's breast
Dm Am F G
No lucky break for you around the corner
Am F
'Cause your father is a bully
Dm G
And he thinks that you're a pest
C(?) F C Am
And your sister she's no better than a whore.
Dm Am F G
Life seems so rosy in the cradle,
Am G F G
But I'll be a friend I'll tell you what's in store
Dm Am F G
There's nothing at the end of the rainbow.
Am G F G
There's nothing to grow up for anymore
Tycoons and barrow boys will rob you
And throw you on the side
And all because they love themselves sincerely
And the man hold a bread knife
Up to you throat it's four feet wide
And he's anxious just to show you what it's for.
Your mother works so hard to make you happy
But take a look outside your nursery door
There's nothing at the end of the rainbow.
There's nothing to grow up for anymore
All the sad and empty faces
That pass you in the street
All running in their sleep, all in a dream
Every loving handshake
Is just another man to beat
How your heart aches just to cut him to the core
Life seems so rosy in the cradle,
But I'll be a friend I'll tell you what's in store
There's nothing at the end of the rainbow.
There's nothing to grow up for anymore
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FIRST LIGHT
Richard Thompson
Intro Chords (4 times): D C Bm
-|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-----------------------------------12-10--------------------------------|
-|-(b11)-9-p7-9-p7-9-(b11)-(b11)-----------(b11)-9-7----------7-----------|
-|---------------------------------------------------7--(7)/9---------7-9-|
-|--------------------------------------------------------------(7)/9-----|
-|------------------------------------------------------------------------|
-|-------------------|
-|-------------------|
-|-7-----------------|
-|---9-7-------------|
-|-------9-5---------|
-|-------------------|
D C Bm
Give me what I ask for
D C Bm
Give me what I long for
G D G G D G
First light, first light
D C Bm
I came to you for refuge
D C Bm
Don't leave me to the thieves
D C Bm
Don't leave me to my own
D C Bm G
You're my disease
G D G G D G
First light, first light
G D G G D G
First light, first light
(Guitar solo)
Take me through the mountains
Lead me from confusion
Take me by the hand
Through real and through illusion
First light, first light
First light, first light
Give me what I ask for
Give me what I long for
Give me what I ask for
Give me what I long for
First light, first light
First light, first light
Give me what I ask for
Give me what I long for
Give me what I ask for
Give me what I long for
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FROM GALWAY TO GRACELAND
Richard Thompson - from the CD "Watching the Dark"
I play this with a dropped D (EBGDAD) tuning, capoed at the 4th fret.
I'm not sure what tuning RT uses,
but I know he played this with a capo.
You can fool with open string runs based on a D/F# chord.
D D
Oh she dressed in the dark
A
And she whispered Amen
D G/B A D
She was pretty in pink like a young girl again
D D
Twenty years married
A
But she never thought twice
D G/B A D
She sneaked out the door and walked into the night
A G/B D
And silver wings carried her over the sea
A G/B D
From the west coast of Ireland to west Tennesee
D
To be with her sweetheart
A
She left everything
D G/B A D
From Galway to Graceland to be with the King
She was humming "Suspicion"
That's the song she liked best
She had "Elvis I love you" tatooed on her breast
They landed in Memphis
Her heart beat so fast
She'd dreamed for so long, now she'd see him at last
She was down by his graveside day after day
Come closing time they would drag her away
To be with her sweetheart
She left everything
From Galway to Graceland to be with the King
Solo
They came in the thousands
From the whole human race
To pay their respects at his last resting place
Ah but blindly she knealt there
And she told him her dreams
And she thought that he answered, or that's how it seemed
And they dragged her away, it was handcuffs this time
She said "My dear man, are you out of your mind?"
Can't you see that we're married?
I'm wearing his ring
I've come from Galway to Graceland to be with the King
From Galway to Graceland to be with the King
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GOD LOVES A DRUNK
Richard Thompson
F#m
F#m A E F#m
Will there be any bartenders up there in Heaven?
D C#m A B
Will the pubs never close, will the glass never drain?
F#m A E F#m
No more D.T.s and no shakes and no horrors
E D A B
Very next morning you'll feel right as rain
G#m D#m G#m D#m
Cos God loves a drunk, the lowest of men
E B C# D#
Like the dogs in the street and the pigs in the pen
E F#m
And a drunk's only trying to get free of his body
E F#m
And soar like an eagle high up there in Heaven
E F#m
His shouts and his curses they're just hymns and praises
G#m F# E
To kick start his mind now and then
G#m C# Em
O God loves a drunk, raise up your glasses, amen
Does God really care for your life in the suburbs
A dull little life full of dull little things
And bring up the babies to be just like daddy
And maybe you'll be there when he gives out the wings
But God loves a drunk, although he's a fool
He wets in his pants and he falls off his stool
He can't hear the insults and whispers go by him
As he leans in the doorway and he sings Sally Racket
He can't feel the cold rain beat down on his body
And soak through his clothes to the skin
O God loves a drunk, come raise up your glasses, amen
Will there be any pen-pushers up there in Heaven?
Does crawling and wage-slaving win you God's love
I pity you worms with your semis and pensions
If you think that'll get you to the kingdom above
But God loves a drunk, although he's a clown
You can't help but laugh as he gags and falls down
He don't give a cuss for what people think of him
He screams at his demons alone in the darkness
He's staying alive for just one more pint bottle
Won't you throw him a few pennies, friend
God loves a drunk, for ever and ever, amen
(from "Rumour and Sigh" 1991)
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GYPSY LOVE SONGS
Richard Thompson
(Drop D tuning)
A
Main riff
-|------------------|
-|------------------|
-|-2--2--0----------|
-|-0--0--0--3--0----|
-|----------3--0----|
D|-------------0----|
Dm
Tropical night, Malaria moon
Dying stars of the silver screen
She danced that famous Gypsy dance
With a hole in her tambourine
Dm
I was young enough and dumb enough
I swallowed down my Mickey Finn
She'd hijacked a few hearts all right
I went into a tailspin
Bb Dm7/A Gm7
Don't sing me, don't sing me, don't sing me
Bb/F Dm
No more gypsy love songs
Bb Dm7/A Gm7
Don't sing me, don't sing me, don't sing me
Bb/F Dm
No more gypsy love songs
Gm/D Dm
Don't stir it up again
Dm
I put my arm around her waist
Says she, young man, you're getting warm
The room was going somewhere without me
And she laughed as she read my palm
CHORUS
Am E F C Dm G
Stillborn love, passionate dreams, pitiful greed
Am E F C
And the silver tongues of the tinker girls,
Dm Em
Who throw their book of life at you
F G
But don't know how to read
Dm
She was third generation Transylvanian
I was the seventh son of a seventh son
I begged the band don't play that tune
Please don't beguine the begun
Dm
When I awoke, she'd cut and run
She stole my blueprints and my change
Just a horseshoe and a note on the bed
And all it said was--strange
CHORUS
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