Roads Girdle The Globe Chords? Options

[101Volts]

I've been trying to figure out this song for a little while but I don't think I have the best ear to figure things out. Could anyone please help out? I've been listening to the album version, transistor blast version and various live versions that can be found on Youtube and I still don't know where exactly to go with all of the guitar parts, I know a few chords in the song but what I listed is nearly all I know.

Here are what I interpret to be Andy's first chords in the album version, The second one was occasionally omitted in live versions:

e-7
B-7
G-4
D-5
A-
E-

e-10
B-10
G-8
D-8
A-
E-

e-8
B-8
G-0
D-0
A-
E-

A chord Dave plays at one part:

e-
B-
G-1
D-2
A-0
E-

Austin

This post has been edited by 101Volts: Feb 26 2012, 09:00 PM

[Jeff Truzzi]

I've been trying to figure out this song for a little while but I don't think I have the best ear to figure things out. Could anyone please help out? I've been listening to the album version, transistor blast version and various live versions that can be found on Youtube and I still don't know where exactly to go with all of the guitar parts, I know a few chords in the song but what I listed is nearly all I know.

Here are what I interpret to be Andy's first chords in the album version, The second one was occasionally omitted in live versions:

e-7
B-7
G-4
D-5
A-
E-

e-10
B-10
G-8
D-8
A-
E-

e-8
B-8
G-0
D-0
A-
E-

A chord Dave plays at one part:

e-
B-
G-1
D-2
A-0
E-

Austin

Hey Austin! This song is like the XTC Holy grail for me (along with 1000 Umbrellas) in figuring out, which I haven't tried in awhile.
But here's an easier (and more readable) way to post tabs. Reconfiguring your first 3 chords, they would be:

x.x.5.4.7.7

x.x.8.8.10.10

x.x.0.0.8.8

Andy at one point did post his chords for the "ho ho ho" turnaround after the chorus & before the verse. I believe they were:

7.7.0.0.7.7

8.8.0.0.8.8

10.10.0.0.10.10

7.7.0.0.7.7

8.8.0.0.8.8

I'll try to give this a listen when I have more time (probably the Transistor Blast version) and maybe we can inspire the master himself to assist us with his unique chord shapes in 'Roads.'

Cheers!

- Jeffy T

[101Volts]

Thanks, Jeff! I wouldn't have guessed those chords, They sure are wild ones. And here's a live version that might be of some help figuring the chords out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjqSzQ952FI&t=0m20s

I may have another chord here:

x.x.0.0.4.x Or x.6.0.0.4.x

Austin

This post has been edited by 101Volts: Feb 28 2012, 03:34 AM

[Jeff Truzzi]

Thanks, Austin - Ill check it out.

If you go down to the "Questions And Answers" section here (3rd from the bottom, under "Miscellaneous") there are a few threads started by Andy with shapes to some XTC songs.
There's also the Tabs section of the "Chalkhills" website, although those are (almost) all fan contributions.

[Jeff Truzzi]

Here's an item you may find interesting, Austin:

http://www.openfeature.co.uk/XTC/xtc.html

[101Volts]

Thanks Jeff, I'm aware of the 11 Different Animals book already though and Roads Girdle The Globe is not one of the songs included in it. I haven't learned all of the songs though and I know Andy sued a lot of chords in "Wait 'Till Your Boat Goes Down" So perhaps he used some of those same chords in "Roads". I'll check it out more, Thanks again.

Austin

[geordiegav]

Broads curdle me noads!
The jizz version

[101Volts]

Here's a few that are played in the left channel of the album version or these are close to them:

#1: x.x.x.5.7.x

#2: x.x.5.4.x.x - Gmaj

#3: x.x.x.5.7.x

#4: x.x.5.4.0.0 or x.10.9.0.0.0 - G6

I have no idea what to call Chord #1 and #3; It's a D# Diminished chord minus the D# and A notes. JGuitar.com's Chord Namer didn't have a suggestion. The notes are C and F#.

Austin

This post has been edited by 101Volts: Dec 26 2012, 04:24 AM

[Jeff Truzzi]

Here's a few that are played in the left channel of the album version or these are close to them:

#1: x.x.x.5.7.x

#2: x.x.5.4.x.x - Gmaj

#3: x.x.x.5.7.x

#4: x.x.5.4.0.0 or x.10.9.0.0.0 - G6

I have no idea what to call Chord #1 and #3; It's a D# Diminished chord minus the D# and A notes. JGuitar.com's Chord Namer didn't have a suggestion. The notes are C and F#.

Austin

C (b5)no3

Two notes aren't a chord, they're technically an interval. But that's not much help. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)
The rock books call chords like 3.5.5.x.x.x "G5."

Cheers, 101 V!

[Andy Partridge]

Didn't I do this one already,somewhere? No idea what Dave plays,here are my parts,ears down for a full house....

Intro=
7.7.0.0.7.7
7.7.0.0.8.8
7.7.0.0.10.10
7.7.0.0.7.7
7.7.0.0.8.8

same again,but substitute last chord with...
8.8.0.0.8.8

Around again

"roads riff" part=
ROADS x.2.4.4.4.4
GIR...... x.4.4.4.4.4 ...DLE....low E note
THE......Gb note
GLOBE 4.2.4.4.4.4

then
G note
WE'RE...3.2.2.4.x.x
SAFE.....3.2.2.2.x.x
IN YOUR..3.2.2.4.x.x
CONCRETE ROBE.....2.4.3.2.2.2

then the single line run on top E string 4-2-4-2
B string 3-2

x.2.4.4.4.4
x.0.4.4.4.4
3.2.4.4.4.4
1.1.0.0.1.1then ROADS riff again

Verse=

Tell you what,that took forever. First master that bit and then i'll post the verse bits.

[Jeff Truzzi]

OMFG -Wow! -The "Holy Grail" of XTC transcriptions! From the master himself! This is TOO COOL for words. Figuring out this song has vexed me and just about everybody else in the world and on line from what I can tell, and it is SO GREAT to get the actual chords from the author. Thank you, THANK YOU Andy! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

Here's the only decent tab I could find on line. Not quite accurate, but it has a bit of Dave's part as well:
http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/x/xtc/road...e_globe_tab.htm

Andy's part is in the right speaker, and Dave's part is in the left.

I have taken the liberty of tentatively naming Andy's chords, and attempting to begin deciphering Dave & Colin's parts.
(I'm using the "Drums & Wires" studio recording, not a live one.)
If anyone figures out more accurate parts and better chord names, PLEASE chime in!
This is just a start in figuring out this wonderfully discordant, harmonically intense, one-of-a-kind song.

***********************************
***********************************

ANDY'S INTRO 1****

7.7.0.0.7.7 (G6maj7 over B bass)
7.7.0.0.8.8 (G6sus4 over B bass)
7.7.0.0.10.10 (G6/9 over B bass)
7.7.0.0.7.7 (G6maj7/B)
7.7.0.0.8.8 (G6sus4/B)

7.7.0.0.7.7 (G6maj7 over B bass)
7.7.0.0.8.8 (G6sus4 over B bass)
7.7.0.0.10.10 (G6/9 over B bass)
7.7.0.0.7.7 (G6maj7/B)
8.8.0.0.8.8 (Csus2add11)

then I think you throw in a little octave break, maybe x.x.0.0.12.12 (G6)?

…and then repeat the above.

ANDY'S CHORUS****

ROADS x.2.4.4.4.4 (B6)
GIR...... x.4.4.4.4.4 (B6/C#)
…DLE….0.x.x.x.x.x (E note)
THE……2.x.x.x.x.x (F# note)
GLOBE 4.2.4.4.4.4 (B6/G#)

G note…x.x.x.0.x.x (?)
WE'RE...3.2.2.4.x.x (G6)
SAFE.....3.2.2.2.x.x (G6/9)
IN YOUR..3.2.2.4.x.x (G6)
CONCRETE ROBE.....2.4.3.2.2.2 (F#m/maj7)

then the single line run on top E string 4-2-4-2, B string 3-2
(notes: G# F# G# F#, D C#)

x.2.4.4.4.4 (B6)
x.0.4.4.4.4 (B6 over A bass)
3.2.4.4.4.4 (B6 over G bass)
1.1.0.0.1.1 (Bb6/9 over F bass)

ROADS x.2.4.4.4.4 (B6)
GIR...... x.4.4.4.4.4 (B6/C#)
…DLE….0.x.x.x.x.x (E note)
THE……2.x.x.x.x.x (F# note)
GLOBE 4.2.4.4.4.4 (B6/G#)


ANDY'S INTRO 2: REPEAT INTRO ONE
…except I think your break halfway through is x.x.0.0.14.14 (Gmaj7b5/D)?

…then the VERSE****
…which I cannot for the life of me figure out! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

***********************************
***********************************

(Here's my go at) DAVE'S INTRO PART****

I think Dave plays something like this against Andy's intro part, but this probably isn't completely accurate:
x.x.5.3.7.x (Gmaj7)
x.x.5.3.7.x (Gmaj7)
x.x.5.3.5.x (G6)

x.x.4.3.x.2 (F#)
x.x.4.3.x.2 (F#)
x.x.5.3.5.x (G6)

and then repeats.

DAVE'S CHORUS PART (?)****

In the chorus, I think he plays pretty much what Andy plays, except after "Concrete Robe" he moves the chords down in whole tones along with Andy's bass notes, something possibly like:
x.2.4.4.4.4 (B6)
x.0.2.2.2.2 (A6)
3.5.5.4.3.0 (G6)
1.3.3.2.1.1 (F)

***********************************
***********************************

(A general description of) COLIN'S INTRO PART****

He's sliding between D & G and then E & G on the same string, something like:
10.x.x.x (D)
3.x.x.x (G)
10.x.x.x (D)
3.x.x.x (G)
12.x.x.x (E)
3.x.x.x (G)
12.x.x.x (E)
3.x.x.x (G)

COLIN'S CHORUS PART****

He's following Andy's low notes except for pedaling a B after the riff.
"We're safe in your" he arpeggiates a G6 chord upward,
then an F#m pentatonic riff downward,
and on those descending whole tone chords he slides thusly:
hi-low,
F#-B, x.9.x.x - x.2.x.x
A-A, x.12.x.x - x.0.x.x
G-G, 15.x.x.x - 3.x.x.x
F-F, 13.x.x.x - 1.x.x.x

***********************************
***********************************

As I said, I have NO idea how the verses go.
But I MAY be close on the "Steer me" Bridge.
(Kinda scared to post this, but I trust the Master will correct me.)

BRIDGE (?)****

Apparently Dave moves to synth, and Andy's guitar is centered in the mix, possibly playing (twice) something like:
x.x.x.3.x.x (Bb note)
x.x.x.2.x.x (A note)
x.x.3.2.4.x (F7)
x.x.x.3.3.3 (Bb6)
x.x.3.2.4.x (F7)

…then moves up two frets doing the same pattern twice:
x.x.x.5.x.x (C note)
x.x.x.4.x.x (B note)
x.x.5.4.6.x (G7)
x.x.x.5.5.5 (C6)
x.x.5.4.6.x (G7)

Then this whole bridge progression repeats and crescendos into the chorus.

***********************************
***********************************

This post has been edited by Jeff Truzzi: Jan 11 2013, 04:53 PM

[Jeff Truzzi]

Here's Andy's 2008 MySpace discussion with Todd Bernhardt:


TB: Let's talk about "Roads Girdle the Globe."

AP: Well, I've done some research for you! [fake German accent] Jah! It vas fun sewing together ze twins, but I had to put zem down and start the correct research!

TB: Good, you can be our Rhodes Scholar.

AP: Exactly. I knew you were going to ask me why I wrote this song, but I needed to find something out before I could answer. Right after the Go 2 album, I lived in a couple of rooms at 12 Manchester Road, in Swindon -- which is I think the nearest Swindon gets to a red-light district, actually -- with my girlfriend at the time, Marianne, who later became my wife. I was staying up late one night, and I saw a foreign film on television, which was the main spark to writing "Roads Girdle the Globe." For years, I haven't been able to identify what the film was, but I did some research yesterday, and I identified it. It's a Finnish film from 1970, by a filmmaker who also wrote it. His name is Risto Jarva, and the Finnish title of the movie is "Bensaa Suonissa." The English title was "Gas in the Veins."

I can remember very little about the film, other than it's about a car-crazy couple, I think. I think it's a bit of a proto-"Crash" -- which I never saw, but you read so many reviews of a film, you almost feel like you've seen it. So it was this early car-crazy couple film -- car equals sex, you know. Watching this Finnish film, something clicked in my head: Wouldn't it be greatly cynical to write a hymn to the motorcar? Because a lot of people treat cars like a religion. They have to have the correct car, all they talk about is their car, they watch car programs, they get car magazines...

TB: They wash it, they polish it...

AP: Oh yeah, they adore it. It's the altar of the garage. For some people, it's really a religious experience, but I never got that. Because I'm not interested in cars one jot. A car is a car! I'm almost like that with guitars -- whereas Dave, for example, is kind of guitar-crazy. He'll try to talk to me about guitars, and I can almost feel myself closing down, because it's just a plank with wires that helps you write a song, you know? It's the same with cars for me -- it's just a thing that gets you from A to B.

TB: Now, the thing about guitars can't be completely true, because you have to have some amount of anthropomorphic love for your Ibanez, I would imagine. It's been with you a long time.

AP: I have a nostalgic attachment to it. I mean, if that got stolen or broken, I'd feel a little upset. But the level I'm talking about with cars -- you know how crazy it gets. People lose all sense of proportion when it comes to cars, and car worship.

And so, with that car worship, I thought, "Okay, let me write a cynical hymn to the motorcar, if the motorcar could write it itself." It's really the car saying, "Oh, thank goodness there are roads everywhere, and thank goodness it's all been sacrificed for the road, and for my benefit," you know? The holy trinity for the car is...

TB: Oil, iron and steel.

AP: Yeah. "Hail Mother Motor, hail piston rotor, hail wheel!" It's one of these weird sort of holy-trinity things. [adopts whiny pedantic voice] "Well, it's three things, but it's really one thing." [laughs] "So, what do you mean -- is it three things or one thing?" [same voice] "It's three things and one thing."

TB: [laughing] "It's a mystery."

AP: [laughing] "It's a mystery! Nobody understands it. Just shut up and believe it. Send me your money and believe it."

TB: [laughing] Exactly. You have three verses in this song -- did you do that on purpose? Was that part of the whole trinity thing?

AP: No, I think it just probably felt too long with more! [laughs] I was reading a lot about the Futurists at the time -- you know, the Italian art movement? The sort of thing they would write would be in praise of speed, and motorcars, and machines. I think there were big dollops of that in there as well -- so, the lyrics are quasi-Futurist.

TB: I wanted to ask you about the syntax you use in the lyrics.

AP: It's like badly translated Italian Futurist manifestos! [chuckles] That's the syntax.

TB: You do this on later songs, too, like "Shake You Donkey Up" -- here, you say things like, "you every race," or "we all safe in your concrete robe."

AP: I guess I just like that disconnect. It's like you've already put the lyrics through a translator. You want to have some fun? Take your favorite lyric, put it into an online translator tool, then translate to Japanese, then to Finnish, then to Italian, then back to English and then read it. It's great fun. It gets so removed, you know? Chinese whispers to the Nth degree. I like that disconnect! I wanted it to be like some of the Italian Futurist manifestos about speed and cars and mechanical things. Because that was the future in 1913 -- it was speed and cars and aeroplanes...

TB: All the potential that technology presented.

AP: Sure, and you can see why it would have been exciting! Of course, you read them now, and they're very naive. It's that kind of naive praise of cars and concrete that I was lampooning.

TB: It's the pre-World War I view of technology, I guess -- after the war, everyone was then able to see the dark side of technology.

AP: Yeah, the mincing machine.

TB: Let's talk about the contrast between this album and White Music and Go 2. Those two first albums are very straightforward and simple, but as I was listening to this song today, I was thinking, "Wow, there are a lot of layers to this."

AP: Well, the instrumentation is quite simple -- it's basically two guitar, bass and drums -- but I wanted it to sound like metal and cars. Like, musically, if cars were making the music. So the chords do crash and grate against each other.

TB: Yeah, I think this song is a really great first glimpse at what's going to happen on Black Sea, where you and Dave come up with these very dissonant yet very complementary guitar parts.

AP: Sure. It was something that I was particularly thrilled by on this song, because everyone's part sat together great. I'd forgotten the bass and drums until yesterday, when I listened to the song on headphones. I thought, "Wow! That bass part is really good, too! Not only do you have two complex guitar parts crashing and colliding and scraping together, but you have this lovely cyclical drum part and a very snaky, melodic bass line." He's probably more melodic than Dave or I are being.

TB: And he's got a really cool, biting tone on this, too. Was there anything special he did on this song that you remember?

AP: I don't know what instrument he's playing -- I don't think it's the Newport, because it sounds too metallic. Maybe a Fender bass? I was playing a Fender Bronco, which is a poor man's Stratocaster. I think I swapped that guitar for a bass, so I could potentially do some bass playing on demos.

I'm on the right channel, with the slightly wiry sound, and Dave's on the left-hand channel. Let me see what I'm doing here [grabs guitar, starts playing] -- I'm playing a high thing in B, with open strings ringing in the middle. It's rather dissonant -- it's like an exotic B-minor, with a C and G thing in there. Difficult to describe.

TB: It's funny that when you play these parts for me over the phone, on acoustic, by itself it's very pretty and jazzy sounding, but when you and Dave are banging against each other on electric guitars, with bass and drums in there, it's something else entirely. You wouldn't think it had any relationship to Jazz, but it does.

AP: Right, when you pull the actual pieces apart, they're quite nice things. Because the main motif thing -- [plays the part underpinning the "roads girdle the globe" part] -- if you played it with a Samba or something behind it, it might be quite pretty! [chuckles] But, instead, Dave and I are purposely crashing into each other with a couple of stock-car guitars. "Wow, isn't that great, the way that Fender tore up that door!" We wanted it to sound metally and car-y -- as if cars could play guitars.

But, returning to my notes -- it's the closest we ever got to Captain Beefheart, I think. Because of the orchestration of the guitars and bass.

TB: I could see that, except for the fact that the rhythm is so regular.

AP: It is a very regular rhythm. I actually really like the tempo of it -- I used to love playing it live. Plus, listening to it yesterday, for the first time in ages -- when the first few bars came in, I thought, "Bloody hell, it's a bit like the Talking Heads for the first few bars!" It's kind of got that [mimics early TH approach] -- you know, you sort of expect me to twitter on, [high, David Byrne voice] "I'm cleaning! I'm cleaning my car!" You know there was a thing in some newspaper in England recently, about their album "More Songs about Buildings and Food," and the fuckers didn't mention that I thought of the title! Bastards.

Oh, and I did something stupid -- lunchtime, I did that thing where you sort of check your credentials, because there was a Sunday supplement in the cafe, when I went in and had a coffee, and I thought, "Ooh, 'England's 50 Best Songwriters'! I've got to make the Top 50, surely!" I sat and read the supplement, and was I in the Top 50? [chuckles ruefully] Fuck it, no. And yet, some of the people that were in there -- "What's that person doing in there? What the fuck is Pete Doherty doing in there?" He's one of England's Top 50 shitheads, you know?

TB: I was going to say -- "Top 50 Heroin Addicts."

AP: Yeah, it just goes to prove you shouldn't check your own credentials, because you're going to be in for a slap. The really annoying thing is, the second I die off, people are going to go, "Hey, do you know, they were quite good!"

TB: [laughing] "I'm going to buy lots of their albums!"

AP: "I'm going to buy lots of their albums -- it's a shame he died!" You just know it's going to go like that! Bitches. [laughs]

TB: [laughing] So, I wanted to mention that, for me, this song comes closest to what you guys achieved in terms of the mix -- the Big Sound -- on Black Sea.

AP: Yeah, at the time, this was my favorite track on Drums and Wires. I thought that, if you cut that album down the middle, this was sort of at the core of it. It is very drummy and very wiry!

TB: Were you the one who came up with the album title?

AP: Yeah. It was celebrating the guitar line-up, you know? Plus, we knew we wanted more of an emphasis on the drums, because we were a little frustrated that we didn't get that so much with John Leckie.

TB: But obviously that was a big part of your sound live.

AP: That was a big part of our sound. It was like, "Why can't we get that on record? Let's try to find somebody who can get this on record." This album was a big jump toward it. We wanted to celebrate the move away from keyboards back to the primitive twang and thump.

TB: I also like the title because it boils it down to what every band is -- even if you have keyboards, it's still wires, you know? Everything is drums and wires.

AP: We were going to call the album Boom Dada Boom. I'd been reading about the Futurists, I'd been reading Dada-ism, because I liked the mischievous nature of it, and then, in The Beano, a kid's comic, I saw a picture of Dennis the Menace's dog -- this is the English Dennis the Menace, who's very different than the American one. He's much more Satanic -- he's got dark, spiky hair, and he's got a dog called Gnasher, and I think he's got a pig called Rasher who was a later addition. In one frame of the comic, Gnasher was playing a drum set, and just smashing the shit out of it, and it said above it, "Boom Dada Boom." I thought, "We've got to have that as the cover." But then someone said, "Oh no, Beano won't let you use the drawing," and all that, so it was a matter of, "Alright, we'll come up with something else."

TB: You were talking before about how you viewed this song as the core of the album -- is that why it ends side one of the LP?

AP: I tend to think in terms of openers and closers. That's how I'll put an album together -- "What's a great opener, what's a great closer?" When it was vinyl, I could do that for each side.

TB: And you have two great closers on this album, because "Complicated Game" is also a great one.

AP: Yeah, we got lucky on this one.

TB: So, tell me about the "Vernon Yard Male Voice Choir," which sings the "bo-bo-bop-bo-bo" part.

AP: That was everybody we could rustle up at the time. We were being visited by two A&R men from Virgin -- the legendary Al Clark, and an Australian chap called Laurie Dunn. They're on there, plus all of the band, our two roadies -- Steve and Jeff -- and I've got a funny feeling that Hugh Padgham's in there as well. Either Hugh's in there, and Steve Lillywhite is working the tape machines, or the other way around. So, there are nine people, and we may have even tracked it up a couple of times, because I wanted it to sound moronic. "Don't sing too in-tune." It's one of those.

TB: I wanted to ask you about your own vocals on this -- it sounds as if you're doubling up, and there are times where you're trying to sing a little out of tune with yourself, to "broaden" the note, to make it a bit dissonant.

AP: Do you know, I never twigged that from listening yesterday. I just thought, "Jesus, this is the epitome of 'seal bark' in places!" Johann Sebastian Sealbach! [laughs] Sorry.

But I think I wanted it to have a desperate edge. I didn't want it to sound comfortable.

TB: Why?

AP: Because they're killing machines! They're destroying the planet. They're stalking the planet, like modern, mechanical wolves. How many people do they kill each day?

TB: [sarcastically] Oh, cars don't kill people, people kill people.

AP: [laughs] Okay, well, you get out of the car, and let's see how many people you can kill then. If you put that gun down, let's see how many people you can kill.

So, yeah, I wanted it to sound scary, frightening. I wanted it to sound like the uncomfortable thing it is. I mean, how many lives -- and how many towns, for that matter -- have been sacrificed to the car? English towns have been gutted, they've been filleted, all for the sake of the car. I'm on my high horse a bit at the moment, but England has been sacrificed at the altar of the motorcar, and I'm sure a lot of other countries can claim the same thing as well.

TB: Let me ask you about the volume change at the beginning of the song. Why did you do that?

AP: Yeah, that was me saying, "Look, can we have the intro so when we get to the "roads girdle the globe" motif, that really crashes. You know, you get comfortable with it during the intro, and then it's, whoop, up the fader comes, and the whole track kicks in a bit more for that motif.

TB: And, as you say, it's mostly guitars, bass and drums, but there is keyboard during the bridge.

AP: Yeah, the little monophonic Korg. Just for a slight change of atmosphere. And that's the "Steer me, Anna" bit, which was for my ex-wife, Marianne.

So, back to my notes -- did you know this song is made up of major 7ths, which are immensely cheesy chords. But they're an inversion of major 7ths that seem to bypass -- good car analogy there, "bypass" -- the cheese! Because major 7ths are -- you know that group America? "Horse with No Legs" and all that? But their songs are full of that stuff [plays some chords on guitar] -- I hate those cheesy chords!

"Roads Girdle the Globe" is full of those chords [plays underpinning of verse], but I just stumbled into an inversion that just seems more linear, and not as sickly. It's got more bite to it.

TB: And if you and Dave are also creating one uber-guitar part with your two guitars, that helps too, I'd think.

AP: Yeah, you're right. It's totally burned off any cheese, I think. I'll tell you the notes -- in ascending order, it's D, G-flat, D-flat. So, it's one of the few times I ever used a major 7th, but I didn't realize it was. I don't know much about music theory, really. It's all naive art for me.

Do you know Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin's version of this?

TB: Yep, I do.

AP: It was reading an interview with Dave Stewart, where he was talking about this song, and that's where he pulled out the fact that it was major 7ths, which I'd never realized -- I mean, at that point in time, I really didn't know what the hell I was playing. He said, "Oh, I love the fact that they've done these inversions that don't sound cheesy."

And I quite like the cover -- he made it much more like the plush interior of a car. I think we were doing the metal door panels, while he did the nice, comfortable seats and things. I was very pleased that he did it, I was really flattered, but the end product was a little bit like that group Dollar -- they were an early Trevor Horn-produced Pop group thing, all very lush synthesizers and programmed songs. It was unusual to hear Dave Stewart take this big, clangorous, industrial Futurist song and make it more like Dollar.

TB: He's quite a musician. I was a big fan of his because he'd played with Bill Bruford, and I got to hang out with him and Barbara a little bit when a band of mine opened for them back in the early '90s.

AP: Ah, so you didn't come at him from the Egg angle, then?

TB: No, I found out about Egg because of the Bruford/Stewart connection, then listened to them afterwards. Actually, Bruford enlisted Stewart's help on his initial solo albums because Stewart is so knowledgeable about music theory. So, it's interesting to hear you say that's how you found out about the theory behind your own chords!

AP: Yeah, I had to read it in an interview with somebody else! "Oh, is that what I did? Oh, he's right, I did do that!" How degrading. [chuckles] That's another thing you shouldn't read your own press about.


©2008 Todd Bernhardt and Andy Partridge. All rights reserved.

[Jeff Truzzi]

The cheesy America 'Tin Man' (closed) major 7th voicing has the major 3rd on top, and the major 7th right below it.
Dmaj7: x.x.0.2.2.2

Whereas the cooler (open) voicings have the major 7th on top, and a gap between it and the major 3rd (omitting the 5th.)
(Tune low E string down to D): 0.9.11.x.x.x

[101Volts]

Thanks Andy, I was rather off with some of my interpretations; I was thinking one chord was x.10.9.8.x.x or close to that! This helps immensely.

And thanks for naming the chords, Jeff!

I think Dave's parts from about 3:35 to 3:48 involve some hammer-ons or he's sliding from one chord to a higher one a few times before going down a few notes and repeating the process twice more.

1.1.0.0.1.1 sounds lovely, Too. I also like its cousin 7.7.6.6.7.7. I think the former chord is the one that Colin's "Find The Fox" Demo starts with before moving up to Gsus4 (3.3.0.0.3.3)?

(Tune low E string down to D): 0.9.11.x.x.x

I think the opening chord for "Wrapped In Grey" is similar to that.

Austin

This post has been edited by 101Volts: Jan 12 2013, 05:05 AM

[Jeff Truzzi]

I think Dave's parts from about 3:35 to 3:48 involve some hammer-ons or he's sliding from one chord to a higher one a few times before going down a few notes and repeating the process twice more.

Good catch! I'll incorporate that in the Dave chart after Andy posts the verse chords.

I think the opening chord for "Wrapped In Grey" is similar to that.

Indeed, that is EXACTLY the "Wrapped In Grey" Dmaj7 voicing on piano: low D, F# an octave above, and a C# on top.
It is also the voicing (on guitar) of the first chord of "Everlong" by the Foo Fighters.




"...ANYWAY, SHE CAME BACKSTAGE AT THE MUDD CLUB - A REAL VAMP, SHE WAS. 
DOG COLLAR, BLUE HAIR, WHITE FACE, LEATHER MINISKIRT, HANDCUFFS, BONDAGE 
MAGAZINE UNDER ONE ARM. HER EYES SAID, "WHIP ME!" I THOUGHT, 
'ELLO - SHE'S NOT HERE TO LEARN THE CHORDS TO 'ROADS GIRDLE THE GLOBE'...

ANDY PARTRIDGE, MELODY MAKER 8.3.81

http://www.optimismsflames.com/animals-page22.htm


  AS DEDICATED FOLLOWERS ARE ONLY TOO AWARE, MUCH OF THE STYLE OF OUR
MUSIC RELIES UPON THE SOUND OF TWO OR MORE INSTRUMENTS DISAGREEING WITH
EACH OTHER - FOR EXAMPLE, TWO OR MORE GUITARS PLAYING DIFFERENT CHORDS
SIMULTANEOUSLY. HOWEVER, RATHER THAN WRITE OUT TWO SEPERATE GUITAR
CHARTS FOR EACH SONG, WE HAVE COMPROMISED SLIGHTLY, WHERE THE NEED
ARISES, AND WRITTEN A SINGLE CHORD COMBINING THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
TWO OR MORE IT HAS REPLACED. THE OPENING CHORD TO "THIS IS POP", FOR INSTANCE,
IS A MUTANT HYBRID OF D MINOR 7 AND D7SUS4. IN THIS RESPECT, IT IS
PERHAPS FORTUNATE THAT "ROADS GIRDLE THE GLOBE" IS NOT INCLUDED HERE!

DAVE GREGORY
http://www.optimismsflames.com/animals-page1.htm