Chords for Detours with John Oates / Episode 7: Close

_ [C] _ _ [D] _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ I first met Jim Lauderdale at the Telluride Bluegrass [F#] Festival about five or six years ago.
He was playing with Elvis Costello at the time.
And we were sitting down having a bite to eat backstage and he just came over and sat
down and I had known about Jim but I didn't [G] really know him.
First thing that struck me [F] about him is how hysterical he is.
He's absolutely one of the funniest people on the [C] planet.
We just hit it off from the beginning.
I [E] mean, he's [D#] become such a dear [B] friend and I just _
[D] appreciate him so much.
He's just one of the greatest [C] guys [A] I've ever met.
I just clicked with him right away and then saw him again at the Americana Music [A] Awards
at the Ryman [B] in Nashville and we just said, hey, let's try [G] writing a song one day.
So Jim and I [F] got together and even though it doesn't pertain to this [G] particular song,
I always like to talk about the first time I tried to write with Jim, [Em] we went into one
of those traditional Nashville songwriting rooms, kind [E] of a little bit of a sterile environment
in the middle of the day, 11 o'clock in the morning.
We basically sat there for a few hours and got nothing done.
I came home, I was really depressed and my wife said, well, how did it go with Jim today?
Because I was so looking forward to working with him.
And I said, it really sucked.
It was terrible.
And she goes, well, what did you think?
You can't write with Jim Lauderdale in the daytime.
And I went, oh, yeah.
She goes, invite him over at midnight, see what happens.
Sure enough, came over at midnight and I think we wrote like three songs that [F#] night.
We've started this thing [D] where _ [Am] _ _ sometimes [G] we write late at night.
_ [E] _ I don't know, that [D#] seems to be our best.
[F#] We always come [E] up with something.
So this one, we wrote here again in the middle of the night, all our best work is in [F#] the middle
of the night. _
And Jim came [G] up with this idea.
He just had the word close.
And he comes up with these very evocative [E] ideas based around the simplest subject.
One thing I like [Em] about our collaboration is that it's [E] a trade off with one of [D#] us might
have a title [D#] and then the other [D] one starts coming with the music or vice versa.
And then we're able [D#] to finish each [D] other's [E] lines lyrically and musically.
So it's a nice, it's really [C#] a good collaboration.
Jim [F#] really kind of drove the bus on this song.
He had a vision for this song and he started singing and he kind of started talking.
[B] It was kind of like a [A] Johnny Cash thing where you [G] just speak the words as opposed to sing it.
And it was really unbelievable.
[F#] And we kind of finished the song and I sat back and I said, [A] Jim, I love this song [G] so
much but I just can't pull it off like you.
I can't speak the [Em] words and have it sound like that.
I think it sounds phony [B] when I do it.
And he said, well, figure something out.
John has such a great work ethic.
_ And he doesn't have [C#] to be doing new [E] records.
[F] But he's always, [Em] _
when he comes [G] to town [B] to Nashville, he is always super busy [D] writing
with people in the studio.
I mean he's really, he's a very creative person.
[D#] _ And I really love that [B] about him.
He really pushes himself.
I had been working with a guy named Tim Lauer [E] on a Daphne Willis record.
Daphne Willis is an amazing artist.
[E] As I was working with Tim, I really started respecting Tim's sonic sense of, he's very
unique and he comes up with really cool sounds.
And I thought, [G] Tim is perfect to produce this [D]
song close.
He _ [Em] got a hold of me later and he said, hey, I'm getting ready to record and I'd like to
[G] do [B] close if that's okay with you.
And I thought, okay with me, [G] of course.
So he recorded it and as John will do sometimes with the songs we've written together, he
took it to a different place.
[A] A good place.
I don't even know what to call this song.
It's like hippie jam [B] meets Americana meets R&B.
It's a really cool blend and I think Tim was [E] the perfect guy to make this song come alive.
_ [G] So it's called [A] Close.
I got to pull out my old Khoros Zitar, which is an old guitar from the 70s that you used
to use [Em] on R&B records.
It sounds like a sitar but actually is a guitar.
I hadn't played it since the 70s.
It was in the back of [G] my closet.
I brought it out and I played this sitar solo in the middle of the song.
So it's kind of very hippie, kind [Em] of, yeah, you'll figure [A] it out. _ _ _ _ _ _
Hold me.
_ _ Close. _
Hold me.
_ [F] Excuse me. _ _
I'm looking for Americana's Jim Laudergale. _ _
Are you saying nice things about me?
I was, yeah.
Yeah.
_ Sure.
This is the man.
Hey, quit talking [A] about yourself.
_ Let's see.
Where was I? _