Chords for (Come Up And See Me) Make Me Smile - Steve Harley Interview
Tempo:
144.3 bpm
Chords used:
F
C
G
Dm
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
There [G] are hit sing-along songs about love, songs about peace, [F] hit songs about heartache, [C] heartbreak and making up again.
[F] But Steve Harley's big, [C] cheerful-sounding number one hit [G] has an unexpected message.
[F] You've done it all, [C] you've broken every [G] code.
It's about [F] the thundering great Raoul that [C] broke up his band.
I've kept most of this [G] to myself because I don't want to spoil it for people.
You [F] sparked the game.
[C] It's a [G] finger-pointing piece [F] of vengeful poetry.
[C] It's getting off my chest how I felt about guys [F] splitting up a perfectly workable [C] machine.
The machine [F] was a band called Cockney Rebel, [C] the result of a long [G]-term ambition by its founder,
who'd been busking around London [Dm] before putting a band together [F] from the small ads.
[C] EMI signed us to make three [G] albums.
It was very, very [Dm] exciting.
I was [E] recording those songs, [C] but I'd been busking in Hyde Park [G] and Piccadilly and Leicester Square for a year.
But the band's success relied on Steve as the [F] only songwriter, and he reaped [Em] the financial rewards.
[F] Three of them came to me in a little [Am] posse with [Em] several ultimatums.
They wanted to write songs [G] for the third Cockney Rebel album, and I said,
Well, you know, I started [Dm] the band and I [F] auditioned you and I told you the deal [C] at the time.
I'm not [G] moving the goalposts here.
It was, [Dm] I'm writing these [F] songs and I'm going to take three albums or [C] so.
They knew this, [G] and they came to me [F] demanding that they could write songs too.
And I just said, well, go do it then.
Shortly after, [G] Steve wrote Make Me Smile about the confrontation with his [F] former bandmates,
and he [C] performed it with a new lineup.
[G] What did you mean by the lyrics, Come up and see me, make me smile?
[E] That you will come back.
They walked out on me [C] and I wrote it saying,
Look, you [G] know, you'll learn how well we're doing here.
We're doing well.
Why are you doing this?
Did you hope that they would come back?
No, it was bitchy.
I was being bitchy and it wasn't nice.
I'm not proud of it.
Of course I am.
[Cm] You're not, but you are.
With its bitter, [Bb] angry lyrics, Steve originally [Fm] planned a very different style.
[Cm] Oh, the mood was quite [Bb] dark.
So it was [G] a slow, moody, [D]
bluesy piece.
You've [C] done it all, [E] broken every cord, [F]
[D] and [C] pulled the rebel [D] to the floor.
I was in distress, there's no doubt at all.
No doubt at all, but out of [C] adversity.
You know, I [Eb] had to talk about it.
I had [F] to write about it.
[Ab]
You've done it all, you pulled the rebel [Am] to the floor for only metal.
I [E]
had to say these things.
I had to get off my chair.
[F] [D] But Steve's [C] producer, Alan [G] Parsons, suggested an up-tempo beat might actually suit the track better.
[Dm]
I'll do what [F] you want, [C] learn it while [G] [Db]
[F] I
[C]
Suddenly it was swinging [F] and bopping and ooh la la.
[C] We saw a hit record being [G] built here, there was no doubt.
Released in 1975, the song [Dm] went to number one in [F] the UK and was a hit right across [C] Europe.
[G] It's been covered over a hundred times in seven different languages.
[F] You've done it all, [G] you've got to make it
[F] stop.
[C]
[G] Well, out of 120 versions that I [F] know about, I've [C] heard about 40 or 50.
[G] Most of them are [F] remakes of what Alan [C] and I did.
It's the same [G] tempo and there's nothing original.
The wedding present [F] did turn it into [C] a punk attack.
[F] They just [C] spat it out.
[G] It's easily far and away my favourite version.
[Dm]
[F] [C]
[G] How do you feel about the [Dm] song now?
I have a great [G] passion and a love for it.
And of course it's in [Dm] every concert, of course it is.
It would [F] be mad of me and churlish [C] to walk away without singing.
[G] I've been in St.
[Dm] Petersburg where I literally mean [F] nothing [C] and 70,000 Russians [G] say it.
It's my baby.
[G]
Did you like it?
[F] But Steve Harley's big, [C] cheerful-sounding number one hit [G] has an unexpected message.
[F] You've done it all, [C] you've broken every [G] code.
It's about [F] the thundering great Raoul that [C] broke up his band.
I've kept most of this [G] to myself because I don't want to spoil it for people.
You [F] sparked the game.
[C] It's a [G] finger-pointing piece [F] of vengeful poetry.
[C] It's getting off my chest how I felt about guys [F] splitting up a perfectly workable [C] machine.
The machine [F] was a band called Cockney Rebel, [C] the result of a long [G]-term ambition by its founder,
who'd been busking around London [Dm] before putting a band together [F] from the small ads.
[C] EMI signed us to make three [G] albums.
It was very, very [Dm] exciting.
I was [E] recording those songs, [C] but I'd been busking in Hyde Park [G] and Piccadilly and Leicester Square for a year.
But the band's success relied on Steve as the [F] only songwriter, and he reaped [Em] the financial rewards.
[F] Three of them came to me in a little [Am] posse with [Em] several ultimatums.
They wanted to write songs [G] for the third Cockney Rebel album, and I said,
Well, you know, I started [Dm] the band and I [F] auditioned you and I told you the deal [C] at the time.
I'm not [G] moving the goalposts here.
It was, [Dm] I'm writing these [F] songs and I'm going to take three albums or [C] so.
They knew this, [G] and they came to me [F] demanding that they could write songs too.
And I just said, well, go do it then.
Shortly after, [G] Steve wrote Make Me Smile about the confrontation with his [F] former bandmates,
and he [C] performed it with a new lineup.
[G] What did you mean by the lyrics, Come up and see me, make me smile?
[E] That you will come back.
They walked out on me [C] and I wrote it saying,
Look, you [G] know, you'll learn how well we're doing here.
We're doing well.
Why are you doing this?
Did you hope that they would come back?
No, it was bitchy.
I was being bitchy and it wasn't nice.
I'm not proud of it.
Of course I am.
[Cm] You're not, but you are.
With its bitter, [Bb] angry lyrics, Steve originally [Fm] planned a very different style.
[Cm] Oh, the mood was quite [Bb] dark.
So it was [G] a slow, moody, [D]
bluesy piece.
You've [C] done it all, [E] broken every cord, [F]
[D] and [C] pulled the rebel [D] to the floor.
I was in distress, there's no doubt at all.
No doubt at all, but out of [C] adversity.
You know, I [Eb] had to talk about it.
I had [F] to write about it.
[Ab]
You've done it all, you pulled the rebel [Am] to the floor for only metal.
I [E]
had to say these things.
I had to get off my chair.
[F] [D] But Steve's [C] producer, Alan [G] Parsons, suggested an up-tempo beat might actually suit the track better.
[Dm]
I'll do what [F] you want, [C] learn it while [G] [Db]
[F] I
[C]
Suddenly it was swinging [F] and bopping and ooh la la.
[C] We saw a hit record being [G] built here, there was no doubt.
Released in 1975, the song [Dm] went to number one in [F] the UK and was a hit right across [C] Europe.
[G] It's been covered over a hundred times in seven different languages.
[F] You've done it all, [G] you've got to make it
[F] stop.
[C]
[G] Well, out of 120 versions that I [F] know about, I've [C] heard about 40 or 50.
[G] Most of them are [F] remakes of what Alan [C] and I did.
It's the same [G] tempo and there's nothing original.
The wedding present [F] did turn it into [C] a punk attack.
[F] They just [C] spat it out.
[G] It's easily far and away my favourite version.
[Dm]
[F] [C]
[G] How do you feel about the [Dm] song now?
I have a great [G] passion and a love for it.
And of course it's in [Dm] every concert, of course it is.
It would [F] be mad of me and churlish [C] to walk away without singing.
[G] I've been in St.
[Dm] Petersburg where I literally mean [F] nothing [C] and 70,000 Russians [G] say it.
It's my baby.
[G]
Did you like it?
Key:
F
C
G
Dm
E
F
C
G
_ _ _ There [G] are hit sing-along songs about love, songs about peace, [F] hit songs about heartache, [C] heartbreak and making up again.
[F] But Steve Harley's big, [C] cheerful-sounding number one hit [G] has an unexpected message.
_ [F] _ You've done it all, _ _ [C] you've broken every [G] code.
It's about [F] the thundering great Raoul that [C] broke up his band.
_ I've kept most of this [G] to myself because I don't want to spoil it for people.
You [F] sparked the game.
_ [C] _ _ It's a [G] finger-pointing piece [F] of vengeful poetry.
[C] It's getting off my chest how I felt about guys [F] splitting up a perfectly workable [C] machine.
The machine [F] was a band called Cockney Rebel, [C] the result of a long [G]-term ambition by its founder,
who'd been busking around London [Dm] before putting a band together [F] from the small ads.
_ [C] _ EMI signed us to make three [G] albums.
It was very, very [Dm] exciting.
I was [E] recording those songs, [C] but I'd been busking in Hyde Park [G] and Piccadilly and Leicester Square for a year.
But the band's success relied on Steve as the [F] only songwriter, and he reaped [Em] the financial rewards.
[F] Three of them came to me in a little [Am] posse _ with [Em] several ultimatums.
They wanted to write songs [G] for the third Cockney Rebel album, and I said,
Well, you know, I started [Dm] the band and I [F] auditioned you and I told you the deal [C] at the time.
I'm not [G] moving the goalposts here.
It was, [Dm] I'm writing these [F] songs and I'm going to take three albums or [C] so.
They knew this, [G] and they came to me [F] demanding that they could write songs too.
And I just said, well, go do it then.
_ _ _ _ Shortly after, [G] Steve wrote Make Me Smile about the confrontation with his [F] former bandmates,
and he [C] performed it with a new lineup.
[G] What did you mean by the lyrics, Come up and see me, make me smile?
[E] That you will come back.
They walked out on me [C] and I wrote it saying,
Look, you [G] know, you'll learn how well we're doing here.
We're doing well.
Why are you doing this?
Did you hope that they would come back?
No, it was bitchy.
I was being bitchy and it wasn't nice.
I'm not proud of it. _
Of course I am.
[Cm] You're not, but you are. _ _
_ With its bitter, [Bb] angry lyrics, Steve originally [Fm] planned a very different style.
[Cm] Oh, the mood was quite [Bb] dark.
So it was [G] a slow, _ _ _ moody, [D] _ _
bluesy piece.
_ _ You've [C] done it all, _ _ [E] _ _ broken every cord, _ _ [F] _ _ _
[D] and [C] pulled the rebel _ [D] to the floor.
_ _ _ I was in distress, there's no doubt at all.
No doubt at all, but out of [C] adversity.
You know, I [Eb] had to talk about it.
I had [F] to write about it.
[Ab]
You've done it all, you pulled the rebel [Am] to the floor for only metal.
I [E]
had to say these things.
I had to get off my chair. _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ [D] But Steve's [C] producer, Alan [G] Parsons, suggested an up-tempo beat might actually suit the track better.
_ _ [Dm] _
I'll do what [F] you want, _ [C] learn it while _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Db] _
_ [F] I_
_ _ _ [C] _
Suddenly it was swinging [F] and bopping and ooh la la.
[C] We saw a hit record being [G] built here, there was no doubt.
Released in _ 1975, the song [Dm] went to number one in [F] the UK and was a hit right across [C] Europe.
[G] It's been covered over a hundred times in seven different languages.
[F] You've done it all, [G] you've got to make it _
_ _ [F] _ _ stop.
[C] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ Well, out of 120 versions that I [F] know about, I've [C] heard about 40 or 50.
[G] Most of them are [F] remakes of what Alan [C] and I did.
It's the same [G] tempo and there's nothing original.
The wedding present [F] did turn it into [C] a punk attack.
[F] They just [C] spat it out.
[G] It's easily far and away my favourite version.
_ _ [Dm] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
[G] _ How do you feel about the [Dm] song now?
I have a great [G] passion and a love for it.
And of course it's in [Dm] every concert, of course it is.
It would [F] be mad of me and churlish [C] to walk away without singing.
[G] I've been in St.
[Dm] Petersburg where I literally mean [F] nothing [C] and 70,000 Russians [G] say it.
It's my baby. _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Did you like it?
[F] But Steve Harley's big, [C] cheerful-sounding number one hit [G] has an unexpected message.
_ [F] _ You've done it all, _ _ [C] you've broken every [G] code.
It's about [F] the thundering great Raoul that [C] broke up his band.
_ I've kept most of this [G] to myself because I don't want to spoil it for people.
You [F] sparked the game.
_ [C] _ _ It's a [G] finger-pointing piece [F] of vengeful poetry.
[C] It's getting off my chest how I felt about guys [F] splitting up a perfectly workable [C] machine.
The machine [F] was a band called Cockney Rebel, [C] the result of a long [G]-term ambition by its founder,
who'd been busking around London [Dm] before putting a band together [F] from the small ads.
_ [C] _ EMI signed us to make three [G] albums.
It was very, very [Dm] exciting.
I was [E] recording those songs, [C] but I'd been busking in Hyde Park [G] and Piccadilly and Leicester Square for a year.
But the band's success relied on Steve as the [F] only songwriter, and he reaped [Em] the financial rewards.
[F] Three of them came to me in a little [Am] posse _ with [Em] several ultimatums.
They wanted to write songs [G] for the third Cockney Rebel album, and I said,
Well, you know, I started [Dm] the band and I [F] auditioned you and I told you the deal [C] at the time.
I'm not [G] moving the goalposts here.
It was, [Dm] I'm writing these [F] songs and I'm going to take three albums or [C] so.
They knew this, [G] and they came to me [F] demanding that they could write songs too.
And I just said, well, go do it then.
_ _ _ _ Shortly after, [G] Steve wrote Make Me Smile about the confrontation with his [F] former bandmates,
and he [C] performed it with a new lineup.
[G] What did you mean by the lyrics, Come up and see me, make me smile?
[E] That you will come back.
They walked out on me [C] and I wrote it saying,
Look, you [G] know, you'll learn how well we're doing here.
We're doing well.
Why are you doing this?
Did you hope that they would come back?
No, it was bitchy.
I was being bitchy and it wasn't nice.
I'm not proud of it. _
Of course I am.
[Cm] You're not, but you are. _ _
_ With its bitter, [Bb] angry lyrics, Steve originally [Fm] planned a very different style.
[Cm] Oh, the mood was quite [Bb] dark.
So it was [G] a slow, _ _ _ moody, [D] _ _
bluesy piece.
_ _ You've [C] done it all, _ _ [E] _ _ broken every cord, _ _ [F] _ _ _
[D] and [C] pulled the rebel _ [D] to the floor.
_ _ _ I was in distress, there's no doubt at all.
No doubt at all, but out of [C] adversity.
You know, I [Eb] had to talk about it.
I had [F] to write about it.
[Ab]
You've done it all, you pulled the rebel [Am] to the floor for only metal.
I [E]
had to say these things.
I had to get off my chair. _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ [D] But Steve's [C] producer, Alan [G] Parsons, suggested an up-tempo beat might actually suit the track better.
_ _ [Dm] _
I'll do what [F] you want, _ [C] learn it while _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Db] _
_ [F] I_
_ _ _ [C] _
Suddenly it was swinging [F] and bopping and ooh la la.
[C] We saw a hit record being [G] built here, there was no doubt.
Released in _ 1975, the song [Dm] went to number one in [F] the UK and was a hit right across [C] Europe.
[G] It's been covered over a hundred times in seven different languages.
[F] You've done it all, [G] you've got to make it _
_ _ [F] _ _ stop.
[C] _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ Well, out of 120 versions that I [F] know about, I've [C] heard about 40 or 50.
[G] Most of them are [F] remakes of what Alan [C] and I did.
It's the same [G] tempo and there's nothing original.
The wedding present [F] did turn it into [C] a punk attack.
[F] They just [C] spat it out.
[G] It's easily far and away my favourite version.
_ _ [Dm] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
[G] _ How do you feel about the [Dm] song now?
I have a great [G] passion and a love for it.
And of course it's in [Dm] every concert, of course it is.
It would [F] be mad of me and churlish [C] to walk away without singing.
[G] I've been in St.
[Dm] Petersburg where I literally mean [F] nothing [C] and 70,000 Russians [G] say it.
It's my baby. _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Did you like it?
Facts about this song