I found chords for the song online but they’re mostly wrong. Here’s the song in full:

Chords used:

        E A D G B e                 E A D G B E
Gmaj7:  3 2 0 0 0 2         Cmaj7:  x 3 2 0 0 3
Dsus4:  5 5 7 7 7 7         D1:     5 5 7 7 7 5

A:      x 0 2 2 2 0         F#m:    2 4 4 2 2 2
D2:     x x 0 2 3 2         F#dim:  x x 0 2 2 2

Intro:
[Gmaj7 Cmaj7 Dsus4/D1 Cmaj7] x2

Verse:

Gmaj7                  Cmaj7
Is it depression or disease?
                  Dsus4    D1           Cmaj7
Tell it to the millipedes.

Gmaj7              Cmaj7
The casserole was good,
                        Dsus4
and the drives were so nice.
D1                   Cmaj7
Welcome to the worst part of your life.

Chorus:

A  F#m  D2/F#dim  Cmaj7

A                   F#m
I'm hard to fix because
                 D2
it took me so goddamn long
   F#dim            Cmaj7
to figure out that I broke down.

(Verse chords over weird synth solo.)

Verse:
Mold spores fill my lungs.
The silverfish hide in the venetian blinds
in the wintertime.
In the bathroom,
With the shower running and my clothes on
I figured out that I hate you all.

Chorus:
I'm hard to fix because it took me so goddamn long
to figure out that I broke down.

Hold Cmaj7 for many bars, then back to Verse chords until out.

The post “Pneumonia” – Fog appeared first on dave madden.

So the recording I have is off on the tuning, and there’s all kinds of melodic lines being plucked that are beyond my capabilities, but here’s the basis for the song in the hopes a better player than I am can build off it.

Forgive misheard lyrics, though I stand by that weird line in the chorus.

INTRO:

D F#m
Bm Bm/A
E (fiddle with making it an E7)
G
A - A7 -

VERSE 1:
D          F#m     Bm                Bm/A
  Long days     of wanting you here.
E              E7
Living in fear.
         G               A
Shedding many a tear for you.

A7

D            F#m    Bm               Bm/A
  Long nights    of pasty-faced moons.
E             E7
Echoing rooms.
    G                         A
All filling with gloom for me.

A7

CHORUS:
D      F#m    Bm          Bm/A
Letters    by goblin mail.
E7                             A7
Feeling like the wind from the sea
       D        F#m          Bm          Bm/A
Got me thinking,    'bout my lonely trail.
  E7                     A7
Deciding I must have you here with me.


VERSE 2:
Now step closer into the light
must have the sight of you
as I make love with you.
Cause there's nothing, lovelier girl,
in all the world
than making love with you.

CHORUS

Repeat first 3 lines of Verse 2, then finish the verse with plucking I can't figure out.

The post “The Snowdon Song” — Tony, Caro & John appeared first on dave madden.

Capo on 2

INTRO: B 

VERSE:
B
I find myself hoping 
For love from which you endure
           E
That seems real 
         A
Does mean more
             Am       E
And I'm almost sure it does

B
I want us to be more than
More than the friends we are
              E
Could we ever be
          A
More than friends?
      Am            E
I don't think so, I don't

CHORUS:
A                      Am
I wish I meant more to you
               E         
I wish I meant more to you
That we were more than friends 
A                     Am
I wish I meant more to you
               E
I wish I meant more to you
To you

F# E F# 

VERSE:
If I were to say something
This friendship wouldn't change 
For the better
Once you knew
It wouldn't be "I love you too"
I just know it wouldn't

It is more than unlikely
The way that you feel for me
Is as I for you
I for you
As I for you
For you

CHORUS:
I wish I meant more to you
I wish I meant more to you
That we were more than friends 

I wish I meant more to you
I wish I meant more to you
To you

F# E F# E (repeat)

End on B

The post “I Wish I Meant More to You” – The Field Mice appeared first on dave madden.

INTRO:
G

VERSE:
NC             G
Jet plane in a rocking chair
               C
Roller coaster roll nowhere
Em       D        C
Deaf and dumb old dancing bear
     G
I'll change this heart of mine
     C          D
This time, this time

(repeat)
Sea cruise in a diving bell
Run a mile in a wishing well
Soft soap and none to sell
I'll change this heart of mine
This time, this time

CHORUS:
C
Here comes the real thing
          F  C     F   C  G 
I've been waiting, for so long
F   C  G
For so long
          C                    D
I've been looking for a love like you.

VERSE:
Crossed-line on the telephone
Crossed eyes and a canny moan
Cross fingers and head for home
I'll change this heart of mine
This time, this time

Play sick in a feather bed
Act cool when you're stone dead
I'm a fool with a size one head
I'll change this heart of mine
This time, this time

CHORUS:
Here comes the real thing
I've been waiting, for so long
For so long
I’ve been looking for a love like you

VERSE/OUTRO:
G
Jet plane in a rocking chair
               C
Roller coaster roll nowhere
Em       D        C
Deaf and dumb old dancing bear
     G                  
I’ll change this heart of mine
     C          D
This time, this time
C               D     
This time, this time
c               D
This time, this time

End on D, awesomely.

The post “Jet Plane in a Rocking Chair” – Richard and Linda Thompson appeared first on dave madden.

I’m not the sort of guitar player who does well with riffs and ditties, particularly in folksy/bluegrass/jugband genres. But lemme try to get the opener down to give you an idea:

e-----------5-3-|------------|
B-------5-------|-3-3-3-5---:|
G-5-7-5---5-----|---------5--|

F
How much alike we are! Perhaps we're long-lost brothers?
                        G7
We even think the same! You know, there may be others.
Am                                   C/G  C/A  C/Bb   C/B
                 We can always use a friend.
Am                                                         G  G7  Gadd6  Gadd5
This family just keep growing! This family doesn't have to end!
C
Brothers!
C
Brothers!


Verse 2:
So many things to learn! But we'll enjoy each lesson.
Problems don't worry us when half the fun is guessin'.
                 Live a lifetime of surprise.
We'll all become musicians, and leave the wonder in their eyes.
Brothers!
Brothers!

Then there’s a fancier ditty than the one that opens the song and a kind of G7-C ending. Note the ways the notes walk up and then down in the chorus.

The post “Brothers” – Emmet Otter’s Jugband appeared first on dave madden.

Time: 3/4
Tuning: down 1/2 step (ish)

Intro: G D G

Verse 1:
        G           D              G
Cutting back on the drinking won't help.
               C                D          G
You're getting fat and you will die by yourself
       C            D       C        D
in the same hateful job for too many years,
           G             D
and you'll drown in your tears,
G             D
drown in your tears,
         G            D             Em
you will drown in the tears of your 20s.

Verse 2 (same chords):
You cannot believe that your joy has died,
so cling on to some semblance of pride,
but at the Golden Corral, you'll have that third pate of ribs.
Start to cry in your bib,
cry in your bib.
You are wearing a bib in your 30s.

Verse 3:
And you'll claim that you know what is hip.
Simultaneously grow nostalgic.
You'll seem to remember a simpler time,
and you'll cry in your wine,
cry in your wine,
you will cry in your wine in your 40s.

Bridge:
C
Take a jog around the block.
    D
You do not look better, you're not looking better.

G D G

Verse 4:
One day you'll get used to your rut.
Chalk it up to just growing up.
You'll pass on your life lessons with a know-it-all grin
to the kids who will hate you,
and most likely ignore you,
G                   D
your kids they will hate you,
G                   D
your kids they will hate you.

End with G, and tears of your own.

The post “Drown in the Tears of Your 20s” – Charles Latham appeared first on dave madden.

The song’s in irritating Bb major, so do what I do and capo up a fret. All chords below are relative to the capo. If you’re not playing along with the music then just play whatever. Of course you know this. I’m not trying to tell you how to play your instrument. And once again, there are lyrics below that I’ve assuredly misheard. Mr. Withered Hand: the last time I did this, Vic Godard himself came onto my blog and posted the correct lyrics to his song (though he missed a verse…). I welcome you to rise to the challenge.

A / Asus4

A                               Asus4
You must be joking I'd deny
A                           
Tears are forming in my eyes
         D
I'm over-sensitive
          A
I'm hyper-sensitized
       Bm                 D       A
And it makes me feel like I am alive

Asus4

A                      Asus4
There's nothing to dislike
A                       
I don't need lights on my push-bike
D                     A
My light comes from inside
            Bm                 D      A
Oh yeah, it makes me feel like I am alive

             Bm              D
And when the winter turns to springtime
         A                   Bm
Like the springtime turns to summer
      Bm              D            A
We'll discover how we lost another year

A / Asus4 (x2)
D A
Bm D A 

A                       Asus4
I saw you at the embassy
A                        
We're both crippled socially
D                            A
Oh worlds collide when we converse
              Bm                D        A
We're singing love is a disease odd as a curse

A                               Asus4
We wrote "Pavement" on our shoes
A 
We stole our biro when we paid our dues 
   D          
We paid our respects
             A
We wrote "Confusion is Sex"
            Bm             D                 A
And on your shoulder bag I wrote "The Silver Jews"

        Bm              D
And the ice turned into water
        A               Bm
And the water turned to gases
         Bm             D           A
Steaming glasses on the frosty afternoon

        Bm                 D
And her lips were warm her hands were cold
A                   Bm
I never thought I'd feel this old
           Bm                       D                    A
This isn't gray hair just the first light of a new dawn

A / Asus4

A                         Asus4
I saw you at the embassy

The post “New Dawn” – Withered Hand appeared first on dave madden.

But Jenny and I, we ate it up. The piano came with a ton of instructional books in the bench, most of them from the early-to-middle part of the twentieth century. Our friends the Soltyses up the street had an upright, too, and their bench was filled with books that had sheet music for current TV theme songs. I learned to play the “Cheers” theme by myself, though I feel like Jenny learned it before I did and was better at mastering it.

At any rate, the first song I ever taught myself to play with both hands at once—and if you want your children to learn how to read music, put a bunch of early-level piano instruction manuals in your piano and keep those idiots bored to tears on summer afternoons—was this one, “Swans on the Lake”, from the John Thompson instruction manual. I’m pretty sure it’s Grade I of a V-grade series.

Here are the lyrics, which until I found them online had only sketchily been running through my head all day:

Stately as princes the swans part the lilies and glide,
under the willows.
Are they enchanted men soon to be free again here,
under the willows?
Oh how I would like to be
here when the fairy wand
touches the leader and
changes his looks!
Would he be handsome and brave as the heroes that live
hidden in my fairy books?

It’s a dumb song, right? But in many ways it’s my ur-song. And if you know me, go ahead and Freud-up the whole thing to say A-ha! No wonder! and we’ll call it a late-spring’s eve.

The post “Swans on the Lake” appeared first on dave madden.

This is maybe my favorite song from this staple of my and my family’s holiday season. Well, there’s “Brothers”. Here: lemme talk a bit about one of the things that makes this movie so great. If you haven’t seen it, for shame. One of Henson’s best. The story?based on a book by Russell Hoban that I haven’t read but which would make (hint, hint) an incredible Christmas present?follows Emmet and his mother, who both destroy or sell each other’s money-making items in order to enter and hopefully win a talent contest. Their talents are both singing (though Emmet can also play the washtub bass), and they learn in the end that they’re only so-so unless they sing and play together.

Or maybe they learn that certain men who write a lot of bluegrass and roots music get mad that audiences fall so easily for effects-laden rock ‘n’ roll.

At any rate, Emmet and his friends go into the talent show with the plan to play a song called “Barbecue”. Here are some lyrics:

When you meet somebody who don’t like soul food,
They still got a soul.
Well, it don’t mean that you got no rhythm
If you don’t like rock ‘n’ roll.
But if your tastes are like mine
and like cider not wine,
then your very favorite thing to do
is get a pretty girl dancing to jugband music,
and a mess of mama’s barbecue.

In other words, it’s a divisive, defensive song about petty people with insecurities. Sure, it’s catchy, but then Yancey Woodchuck gets up there before they’ve had a chance to play, and what do you know? He plays “Barbecue” on the banjo (and sounds precisely like Bob Dylan while doing it).

“C’mon!” Emmet says, pushing his fellow bandmembers into the alley. “We gotta rehearse a new song.” What they rehearse is “Brothers”, which might be the best song in this movie:

How much alike we are,
perhaps we’re long-lost brothers.
We even think the same.
You know, there may be others.

We can always use a friend.

This family just keeps growing,
this family doesn’t have to end.
Brothers!

In other words, it’s a song about unity and finding truth. And so many relentless bars of minor chords! It’s the right proper antidote to the stupidity of “Barbecue”. Barbecue! Of all the ridiculous things to apostrophize.

(You can hear the song here, but there’s this behatted creature whose noises sometimes cut in to the music, so watch out for it.)

At any rate, here’s the tab for “The Bathing Suit She Wore”, which may have some issues. I feel like there’s some tricky changeup in the second line of the verses. Let me know if you come up with something else.

G          G7  C             D7
Long, long ago there lived a lady
G           A         C          D7
Simple, but elegant as any on the shore
        G             G7       C
She was known for her generous silhouette
    Eb7         G          A
And yet she was known even more for
    C                G
The bathing suit she wore

D7
Even tho it was her bathing suit that made her famous
                     G
It was almost heaven sent
A7
Many times when it was drying on the line
                                        D
A tourist would mistake it for a circus tent

Now she has gone
Now she has left us
Left with sweet memories
And left with something more
We've made curtains and handkerchiefs
And clothing for the poor
From the one bathing suit
That your grandma otter wore
From the one bathing suit
That your grandma otter wore

The post “The Bathing Suit She Wore” – Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas appeared first on dave madden.

But I got you the intro and interlude ones. That’s worth something?

Again, lyrics assuredly misheard:

INTRO:

e-------------------|-2------2-3-2-5-----|
B---------------2-3-|--------------------|
G---------0-2-4-----|------------------0-|
D-0--0--4-----------|----------------4---|

e-------------------|-2------2-3-2-5-----|----------------------------|
B---------------2-3-|--------------------|---2----2---------2----2--0-|
G-2-------0-2-4-----|------------------0-|-2----2----2----2----2------|
D-------4-----------|----------------4---|----------------------------|

VERSE:

D
Made a right track when the nude was bleeding.
E
Your new suit set me in motion.
G
I told everyone in my life.
A
Always betray when she's not my wife, and

D
all around town is a new decision.
E
The black fireworks are not as annoyed at me.
G
I'm told when the rockets fly
A
without wit or a reason to cry, like a

CHORUS:
D
Stool pigeon
E
Stool pigeon
G
Won't you take two and three?
A
Knock me around all over the place and then leave.

INTRO

VERSE:
Black and white lies appear the same to me.
Chant of voices on a wind so free.
Things are tough we can still picnic.
A nice bunny that became trees.

I and my money wrapped in dishonesty.
Feeling part of a page in a book.
Now rummage among the debris.
Me and my shadow in our eats, like a

CHORUS:
D
Stool pigeon
E
Stool pigeon
G
Won't you take two or three?
A                                           Bb
Knock me around all over the place and then leave


BRIDGE:
                          D
I once found a place in a sea.
Bb                                D
Roses, no one bothering me, and a view.
Bb                              D
sad expecting what was coming to me.
Bb                                A
Nothing right from anyone least of you

VERSE:
I and my money wrapped....

CHORUS TWICE

The post “Stool Pigeon” – Vic Godard & the Subway Sect appeared first on dave madden.