Birmingham Shadows - Chords
Bruce Cockburn on The Charity of Night (1997)
#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
# This file is the author's own work and represents his interpretation of the #
# song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.#
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------#
Birmingham Shadows :
This song is reportedly written about a late night walk with Ani DiFranco after
a concert in Birmingham, Alabama June 1995.
Transcribed by Steve Meger (sam@michaelsengineering.com)
Standard tuning, Capo II
h hammer-on
p pull-off
s slide
x mute string with fretting hand
Main riff:
Em7 Em7sus
, . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
||---------------(0)--------------|--------------------------------||
||----------------3---3---3---3---|----3---3---3---3---3----h-p-h--||
||----------------0---0---0---0---|----2---2---2---2---2---0-2-0-2-||
||----------------2---2---2---2---|----2---2---2---2---2-----------||
||---------------(2)--------------|---(2)--------------------------||
||0-------------------------------|--------------------------------||
repeat
Verse:
Birmingham
just behind the mountain
sparse street lamps glow in hot half-moon haze
shadows shorten into little black pools
then elongate behind
we walk, talk some, laugh some
worked hard, now wired and hanging out
I'm curious what you might be all about
curious too what that dark shape in the hard shiny cruiser might do
and you have no idea what you're giving
out of your own curiosity and tense energy
tattoo on chest like the key to the puzzle of your pumping heart
wearing your shadows all over your sleeve
wearing the role of the young upstart
Refrain:
(syncopated, first measure 6/8 time?)
, . , . , . , .
||--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
||0---0---0-------0-----------0---|----------------------------0---|
||0---0---0-------0-----------0---|----------------------------0---|
||----------------------------0---|----------------------------0---|
||2---4---5-------4----------(2)--|--------------------------------|
||----------------------------2---|------------------------2-------|
Bir-ming-ham shadows fall
Gadd9 B7#9
, . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
|3-------------------------------|3-----------x-------3-----------|
|2-------------------------------|2-----------x-------2-----------|
|0-------------------------------|1-----------x-------1-----------|
|--------------------------------|2-----------x-------2-----------|
|3-------------------------------|--------------------------------|
you show a little I let some-thing show too
Em7
, . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
|--------------------------------|------------10s-12s-10----------|
|--------------------------------|----12------10s-12s-10--12------|
|----------------7--x-------7----|----12------------------12------|
|----------------5--x-------5----|--------------------------------|
|----------------7--x-------7----|--------------------------------|
|0-----------------------0-------|0-------------------------------|
Em9sus Em7sus
, . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
|----------------------------7---|----7-------7---7-------8-------|
|----------------7-s-9-------7---|----7-------7---7-------7-------|
|----------------------------7---|----7-------7---7-------7-------|
|----------------5-s-7------(7)--|------------------------7-------|
|0-------0---------------0-------|0-------0-----------------------|
, . , . , . , .
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
|0---0---0-------0-----------0---|----------------------------0---|
|0---0---0-------0-----------0---|----------------------------0---|
|----------------------------0---|----------------------------0---|
|2---4---5-------4----------(2)--|--------------------------------|
|----------------------------2---|------------------------2-------|
it's now or not at all
Gadd9 B7#9
, . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
|3-------------------------------|3-----------x-------3-----------|
|2-------------------------------|2-----------x-------2-----------|
|0-------------------------------|1-----------x-------1-----------|
|--------------------------------|2-----------x-------2-----------|
|3-------------------------------|--------------------------------|
out on the road it's always instant get to know you
Em7
, . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
|----------------3---3-------3---|--------------------------------|
|----------------0---0-------0---|----------------2-------0-------|
|----------------2---2-------2---|----0-----------2-------4-------|
|--------------------------------|--------4-----------------------|
|0-----------------------0-------|--------------------------------|
, . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
|----------------3---3-----------|--------------------------------|
|----------------0---0-----------|----------------2-------0-------|
|----------------2---2-----------|----0-----------2-------4-------|
|----------------------------5-s-|4-------4-----------------------|
|0-----------------------0-------|--------------------------------|
Em7
, . , . , . , . , . , . , . , .
|--------------------------------|--------------------------------|
|----------------3---3-------3---|--------------------------------|
|----------------0---0-------0---|----------------2-------0-------|
|----------------2---2-------2---|----0-----------2-------4-------|
|--------------------------------|--------4-----------------------|
|0-----------------------0-------|--------------------------------|
back to main riff
under velvet trees towering like the sides of a well
before the empty too bright office blocks
(which we are admonished not to enter)
policeman studies us, finds us confusing
more amusing than threat
moves on bemused
pavement spirals down ahead like a fossil of a giant shell
along the kingdom's midnight marches
I wear my shadows where they're harder to see
but they follow me everywhere
I guess that should tell me I'm traveling toward light
I guess something you sang made me remember that
I guess I'm saying thanks for that
refrain
Guitar solo (Em dorian, based on D major scale)
(freely)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------0-------7--4-----7--4-----------------------------|
|------0--2--4----------------5-----------------------------------|
|---4-------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
(quickly)
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|---------------------------0-7h9---9---9---9---9-----etc!--------|
|---------------------0-7h9---------------------------------------|
|--------0-5h7--0-7h9---------------------------------------------|
|--0-5h7----------------------------------------------------------|
got a head full of horrors and a heart full of night
at home in the darkness but hungry for dawn
I can only remember scenes, never the stories I live
the good thing about that is it's easy to forgive
can't make assumptions about any of this
we're nomads
follow our own songlines
who knows what could strike before we meet again?
but if I fall down and die before saying goodbye
I give you this -
you'll have lost a friend
refrain
Birmingham
just behind the mountain
sparse street lamps glow in hot half-moon haze
shadows shorten into little black pools
then elongate behind...
Ending:
Em7 Em7sus (retard)
, . , . , . , .
|---------------(0)--------------|--------------------------------||
|----------------3---3---3---3---|----3---3-------3-------3-------||
|----------------0---0---0---0---|----2---2-------2-------2-------||
|----------------2---2---2---2---|----2---2-------2-------2-------||
|---------------(2)--------------|---(2)--------------------------||
|0-------------------------------|--------------------------------||
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