A guitar is a thief in the night |Dm / |F / |G / |
That robs you of sleep through the wall |G / |Bb / |/ / |D Dsus4|D / |
A guitar is a thin box of light |A / |F / |G / |
Throwing reflections that rise and fall |G / |Bb / |/ / |E / |E7 / |
It reminds you of Memphis or maybe Majorca |A7 / |/ / |Gm7 / |/ / |
Big Bill Broonzy or Garcia Lorca |Dm / |/ / |Gm7 / |A7 / |
A truck going north or a cab to the Festival Hall |Dm / |F / |G / |Bb C |D / |
|Dsus4 / |A7...
And the man who plays the guitar for life
Tests his thumbs on a slender knife
Forever caresses a frigid wife
His fingers travel on strings and frets
Like a gambler's moving to cover bets
Remembering what his brain forgets
While his brain remembers the fears and debts |Dm / |F / |G / |Bb C |D / |
|Dsus4 / |D / |/ / |
Long fingernails that tap a brittle rhythm on a glass |Gm7 |/ |C9 |/ |Am7 |/ |/ |/ |
Around his neck a ribbon with a little silver hook |Gm7 |/ |/ |/ |
Like some military order second class |Dm |/ |A7 |/ |
You can read him like an open book |Dm |/ |E7 |/ |
From the hands that spend their lives creating tension |Gm7 |/ |A7 |/ |
From the wrists that have a lean and hungry |Gm7.|(tacet)|
Eyes that have a mean and angry look |A7..|(tacet)|Dm / |/ / |A7 / |/ / |
A guitar is a thief in the night
That robs you of sleep through the wall
A guitar is a thin box of light
Throwing reflections that rise and fall
A guitar reminds you of death and taxes
Charlie Christian outplaying the saxes
The beginners' call and the very last call of all |Dm / |F / |G / |Bb C |D / |
|Dsus4 / |D / |/ / |
(E-C#) (F-D) (G-E) (A-F) / (Bb-G) (A-F) (G-E) (F-D)
(G-E) (A-F) (Bb-G) (C-A) (D-Bb') (C-A) (Bb-G) (A-F) (G-E)
The beginners' call and the very last call of all |Dm / |F / |G / |Bb C |D / |
|Dsus4 / |D.......
Chord Transcription by Dave Jones, amendments by Pete Atkin.
Notes:
Note pairs such as (E-C#) are just that: play two notes rather than a whole chord.
Start the runs on 4th and 2nd string at 2nd fret. (F-D) is at 3rd fret.
Rest of note pairs played on 3rd and 1st strings.
You can play these runs in all the verses ("A guitar reminds you...",
"Like a gambler's..."). The chords to these lines are Pete's amendments
interpreted by DJ. Other arrangements of A7, Dm and Gm7 may work for you.
Chord shapes:
Bb to C : barred-A at 1st fret moves up to 3rd fret.
Gm7 to A7 : (in the verse) barred-Em7 at 3rd fret moves up to barred-E7 at 5th.
Other A7's: use the A with open 3rd string version, not the half-barre-plus-high-G.
Tempo:
The original is a fast 4/4. Here the bar structure is the same but the
count is halved, so that makes it a moderate 2/2, I suppose. Strum to your own taste.
In the bridge the tempo actually increases but the strum rate halves again.
Thanks to Pete for drawing attention to these details.
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