Chords for Forget about the 60's & 70's... THE 40's WERE AMAZING!!!

[Eb] You guys know I love the old music from the 60s and 70s, but [Bbm] today we're going [F] back all the way to the [B] 40s.
The track is called [Eb] Don't [Abm] Fence Me In [Eb] by Bing [Eb] Crock.
Oh, give me land, [Bb] lots of [Eb] land Under [Bb] starry skies [Eb] above
_ _ [Bb] Don't [Ab] fence me [Bb] in Let me ride through the wide [Fm] open country that [Bb] I love
_ _ [Bm] Don't fence me [Bb] [Eb] in _ Let me be by myself in the evening _ [Ab] breeze
And listen to the murmur of the [Abm] [Db] cottonwood trees
[Eb] Send me off forever, [Gm] but I [C] ask you please _ [Bb] Don't fence [Eb] me in _ _
_ [Ab] Don't fence me in _ Let me ride through the wide open country [Eb] _ [E] _ [Eb] _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Fm] _ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _
_ that _ I _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ love
_ Don't fence me in _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Abm] _ _ [B] _ _ _
[Eb] _ [F] _ _ [D] _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ One of those people that nowadays Bing Crosby is all but forgotten, but back in the day he was the number one most successful influential singer [Gb] in the world.
Everybody was copying, trying to sound like Bing Crosby.
[Eb] Now let's play that intro again a bit slower so you can see what's going on. _
_ _ _ _ _ [Abm] _ _ _
_ [B] _ _ _ [Ebm] _ _ [Eb] _ [Fm] _
[Eb] _ [Dm] _ [Ebm] _ [Gb] _ [Eb] _ _ _ [G]
There you go, and then the lyrics and the vocals begin.
Now of course when you listen to the record, there's not really a guitar on there.
Maybe there is, but you can't hear it.
It's an orchestra, a big band.
So what can we do on the guitar to make that sound _ anywhere decent?
Well, I suggest something like [Eb] this, _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ which basically sounds a bit country.
And as you can tell, it's the thumb that does the bass and the middle finger only that does the strumming down and up. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Oh, give me land, lots of land Under starry skies above _ _
[Gb] Don't fence [Fm] me [Bb] in
_ [N] That's not too bad, but of course there's one thing we're missing here.
This song is not just Bing Crosby, it's Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters.
And if you're not familiar with the Andrew Sisters, they were just absolutely fantastic.
And they're singing a bit of a vocal line there in the background.
Let's have a listen at that again.
Oh, give [Eb] me [Bb] land, lots of land [Eb] Under starry [Bb] skies above
So the Andrew Sisters doing the backing vocals are _ singing_ _
[Eb] It's _ nice if we can add that to the mix so those notes are _ _ [D] _ _ [C] _ _
easy enough and along with the [Eb] chords.
_ [Gm] _ _
_ [Cm] _ _ And then add the country fingerpicking slash strumming.
Oh, _ give me [Eb] land, [Bb] lots of land [Cm] Under starry [Bb] skies above
[Eb] _ [Bb] Don't fence [Fm] me [Bb] in
[Fm] Let me ride [Bb] to the wide open country that I love
_ Don't fence [Eb] me in
What [Bb] a chord here!
_ _ _ _ _ _ It's [Am] not easy, but it's [Bbm] beautiful.
The G7 augmented [Bb] 5.
_ _ _ [Eb] Let's continue.
Let me be by [Bb] [Eb] myself in the evening breeze
[Ab] And listen to the murmur of the [Db] cottonwood _ trees
Oh, I love that 9 chord [Abm] here. _ _ _
_ [Eb] Send [Gm] me up forever, but I ask [C] you [F] please
[Bb] Don't fence [Eb] me in
[Fm] And that's pretty much the opening part of the song.
It's kind of fun to play something from a totally [Eb] different era, right?
Beautiful, cool [Fm] voice.
Just [Eb] turn [Ab] me loose, let me straddle my O'saddle underneath the [Eb] western skies _
_ _ _ On [Ab] my caillou's, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the [Bb] mountains [E] rise
Now, [Bbm] this second part, the short little [F] B section.
Here we have [D] the Andrews sisters [Dm] singing three-part harmony.
Beautiful.
[Ab] Starts with an F chord.
Just turn me loose, let me straddle my O'saddle underneath the [G] morning [Gb] sky
This [Eb] _ _ _
is another one of those beautiful little things.
_ C diminished chords.
It just, he throws it in between there.
Makes it so much more interesting.
[C] _ _ [Eb] Then _ _ _ back to the F.
_ [Ab] _ _ _ _
Da _ -do [Bb]-do [Ab]-da [Db]-ba-do-do [Bb]-do-do
[G] [E] That _ _ [Bb] _
_ works so well.
Then we go back to the A, the opening part.
But this time we go straight to the C7.
[Eb] I want to [Bb] ride to the [Eb] ridge where the west commences
[Ab] And gaze at the moon till I lose [Db] my senses
[Eb] And I can't look at harbours [Db] and I [C] can't stand [F] fences
_ _ [Bb] Don't fence [Eb] me in
[Abm] And that's it.
Those were all the parts for the entire song.
Such a beautiful little tune to play.
Something completely different, of course.
And you can find the tabs on my Patreon site if you need that.
Let's see if we can play the basic thing together.
I shall try and sing, but I am not being cross-b of course.
_ But, as they say, we'll give it the old college try.
_ [Eb] _
_ _ _ [Abm] _ _ _ [B] _ _
[Eb] _ _ _ [Ebm] _ [D] _ [Eb] _ Oh, give me land, [Bb] lots of [Cm] land On the [Eb] starry skies above
_ [Db] Don't [Ab] fence me [Bb] in
[Fm] Let me [Bb] ride through the wide [Fm] open [Bb] country that I love
_ Don't fence [Eb] me in
Let me be by [Bb] myself [Eb] in the evening [Ab] breeze
Listen to the murmur of the cottonwood [Db] [Eb] trees
Send me up [G] [Db] forever, but I [C] ask you [F] please
_ [Bb] Don't fence [Eb] me in
Just [Gm] tear [Ab] me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the [Eb] western [C] sky
[Eb] _
_ _ On [Ab] my caillous, let me wander over yonder
Till I see [Bb] the mountains [Db] rise _
[D] _ _ I want [Eb] to [Gm] ride to the ridge [Eb] where the [Bbm] west [Eb] commences
[Ab] And gaze at the moon till I [Db] lose my [Eb] senses
And I can't look at hovels [Gm] and I can't [C] stand fences
[F] _
[Bb] Don't fence [Eb] me [Db] in
[C] _ _ [F] _ _
[Bb] Don't fence [Eb] me in _ _ _