Chords for Guy Clark , 2009 Texas Heritage Songwriters' Association Honor Roll
Tempo:
102.7 bpm
Chords used:
Bb
D
Eb
G
E
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Jam Along & Learn...
[E] [F] [Bb] Bill Country, how the talking [C] reed of the loom,
playing guitar when I was like a junior in high school, I guess.
My father's law partner was a woman named Lola Bonner,
graduated from the University of Texas.
all she knew were border songs, Mexican music in South Texas.
And so first year I played the guitar, I didn't know any songs in English.
[Bb] then kind of got into traditional folk music,
writing, good poetry.
playing guitar when I was like a junior in high school, I guess.
My father's law partner was a woman named Lola Bonner,
graduated from the University of Texas.
all she knew were border songs, Mexican music in South Texas.
And so first year I played the guitar, I didn't know any songs in English.
[Bb] then kind of got into traditional folk music,
writing, good poetry.
100% ➙ 103BPM
Bb
D
Eb
G
E
Bb
D
Eb
_ _ [E] _ [F] _ [Bb] Bill Country, how the talking [C] reed of the loom,
Well, I started playing guitar when I was like a junior in high school, I guess.
My father's law partner was a woman named Lola Bonner,
and she just graduated from the University of Texas.
_ _ And all she knew were border songs, Mexican music in South Texas.
And so first year I played the guitar, I didn't know any songs in English.
And _ _ _ [Bb] then kind of got into traditional folk music,
and had always been exposed to really good writing, good poetry.
_ _ _ _ And [A] the writing of songs just was the natural thing to do [E] next.
And [D] that [E] old time [A] _
feeling
[B] Well, I think a good song is a song that allows the listener to associate with it,
to relate to it in some way, which has got to do with the way you write.
_ _ You have to leave holes in the right place.
You can't detail everything perfectly, or they have no room to get inside it,
or to allow it to [Bb] touch them.
It's like good guitar players, it's not the licks they play, it's the holes they play.
[C] _ [Eb] I can just get off of [F] this LA [Bb] freeway without getting [Eb] killed
_ _ [Bb] I'd be down and rolling, probably smoked [Fm] too, so I'm laying
I ain't bogged, bogged, [Eb] bogged, if I can just get off [F] of this LA [Bb] freeway
without getting [Eb] killed, I'd _
[Bb] be down and rolling
Dylan Thomas, [F]
you know, as far as writing goes,
Dylan Thomas, [C] Robert Service, Stephen Vincent Bonet,
[Eb] I mean, those kind of _ _ towns and I used [Bb] every time we'd start thinking we were pretty cool,
pretty smart, [F] pretty good, you know, we'd put on a tape of Dylan Thomas reading his own work, _
[Bb] _ bring you right back to earth.
[Bm] I guess the rattle's waiting for [G] the train
_ My favorite version of any song of mine that anybody's done is,
remember Slim Pickens, the old cowboy actor?
He read Desperado's Waiting for a Train as a [Gb] poem over the music.
[D] I mean, it's _ _ like, God, [Eb] you know.
That picture hanging on the wall was painted by a friend
Yeah, Step Inside This House, it was the first song I wrote
and I played it for a long time and it always struck me as kind of a first effort,
kind of amateur writing, and I [Bb] _
_ _ forgot it, I never did it.
And one night we were _ _ [Eb] playing that songwriter's show,
me and Lyle and Joe Ealy and John Hyatt in New York City,
_ [Bb] and there was sort of a moderator guy who asked everybody in turn,
play a song you wish you had written.
_ And I played a Joe Ealy song and Joe played probably a Butch Hancock song,
I don't know what John played, and Lyle started playing that song
and he was two verses and a chorus into it before I realized it was my song.
I completely forgot it.
[Eb] And he just does it so much better than I ever did,
and I just, [A] there was no reason to [D] do it. _ _
[G] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Em] I think [A] it's always been for me, it's been a song called [D] She Ain't Going Nowhere.
_ [Bm] She ain't going [A] nowhere, she's [D] just leaving _ _ _
_ [Bm] She ain't going [A] nowhere, she [D] can't breathe [G] _ in
[Em] This is one of [E] the earlier songs I wrote, because one, it only took about 45 minutes,
but it's just so [D] succinct and so [G] _ clean, the writing of it, it's not [D] cluttered at all.
I probably got the original paper I wrote it on, there's not [E] one word scratched out.
[D] It's just _
_ _ [Em] moments of clarity that you happen to have a [F] pencil in your hands.
His [G] head just fell down on his chest, _ [C] he says everything that he gets
[Bb] Just that they [Gb] were involved with it, that it touched them in some way, that I _ did my [C] job.
I mean, I don't write these songs just to sit in a room and play to myself,
I write them to play for the folks, and hopefully [F] it makes some difference to them,
or at least makes them think, or [Gb] something.
I mean, I don't have any message, or I'm preaching to anybody, or have an agenda of any sort.
I'm usually lucky if I can remember them.
_ But, _ _ mostly that it's fun, it's supposed to be [E] fun.
Being [B] six years old, [G] I had seen some trains before, [A] so it's hard to figure [E] out
Being born here and growing up in Texas, _ [D] you're kind of imbued with this spirit of
You can do anything you say you can do.
There are no rules, there is no best there is.
Just do it.
_ Whatever it takes, do it. _
And you have this marvelous, _ _ _
_ _ [G] I don't know what it is,
all this wonderful storytelling input.
I mean, Texas is known for storytellers and bullshitters.
_ _ And that just seems to fit _ perfectly into writing songs.
Oh my mama, [C] ain't that [Gm] Texas lookin' [G] something?
Oh my mama, ain't that Texas lookin' something? _ _ _ _ _ _
Well, I started playing guitar when I was like a junior in high school, I guess.
My father's law partner was a woman named Lola Bonner,
and she just graduated from the University of Texas.
_ _ And all she knew were border songs, Mexican music in South Texas.
And so first year I played the guitar, I didn't know any songs in English.
And _ _ _ [Bb] then kind of got into traditional folk music,
and had always been exposed to really good writing, good poetry.
_ _ _ _ And [A] the writing of songs just was the natural thing to do [E] next.
And [D] that [E] old time [A] _
feeling
[B] Well, I think a good song is a song that allows the listener to associate with it,
to relate to it in some way, which has got to do with the way you write.
_ _ You have to leave holes in the right place.
You can't detail everything perfectly, or they have no room to get inside it,
or to allow it to [Bb] touch them.
It's like good guitar players, it's not the licks they play, it's the holes they play.
[C] _ [Eb] I can just get off of [F] this LA [Bb] freeway without getting [Eb] killed
_ _ [Bb] I'd be down and rolling, probably smoked [Fm] too, so I'm laying
I ain't bogged, bogged, [Eb] bogged, if I can just get off [F] of this LA [Bb] freeway
without getting [Eb] killed, I'd _
[Bb] be down and rolling
Dylan Thomas, [F]
you know, as far as writing goes,
Dylan Thomas, [C] Robert Service, Stephen Vincent Bonet,
[Eb] I mean, those kind of _ _ towns and I used [Bb] every time we'd start thinking we were pretty cool,
pretty smart, [F] pretty good, you know, we'd put on a tape of Dylan Thomas reading his own work, _
[Bb] _ bring you right back to earth.
[Bm] I guess the rattle's waiting for [G] the train
_ My favorite version of any song of mine that anybody's done is,
remember Slim Pickens, the old cowboy actor?
He read Desperado's Waiting for a Train as a [Gb] poem over the music.
[D] I mean, it's _ _ like, God, [Eb] you know.
That picture hanging on the wall was painted by a friend
Yeah, Step Inside This House, it was the first song I wrote
and I played it for a long time and it always struck me as kind of a first effort,
kind of amateur writing, and I [Bb] _
_ _ forgot it, I never did it.
And one night we were _ _ [Eb] playing that songwriter's show,
me and Lyle and Joe Ealy and John Hyatt in New York City,
_ [Bb] and there was sort of a moderator guy who asked everybody in turn,
play a song you wish you had written.
_ And I played a Joe Ealy song and Joe played probably a Butch Hancock song,
I don't know what John played, and Lyle started playing that song
and he was two verses and a chorus into it before I realized it was my song.
I completely forgot it.
[Eb] And he just does it so much better than I ever did,
and I just, [A] there was no reason to [D] do it. _ _
[G] _ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Em] I think [A] it's always been for me, it's been a song called [D] She Ain't Going Nowhere.
_ [Bm] She ain't going [A] nowhere, she's [D] just leaving _ _ _
_ [Bm] She ain't going [A] nowhere, she [D] can't breathe [G] _ in
[Em] This is one of [E] the earlier songs I wrote, because one, it only took about 45 minutes,
but it's just so [D] succinct and so [G] _ clean, the writing of it, it's not [D] cluttered at all.
I probably got the original paper I wrote it on, there's not [E] one word scratched out.
[D] It's just _
_ _ [Em] moments of clarity that you happen to have a [F] pencil in your hands.
His [G] head just fell down on his chest, _ [C] he says everything that he gets
[Bb] Just that they [Gb] were involved with it, that it touched them in some way, that I _ did my [C] job.
I mean, I don't write these songs just to sit in a room and play to myself,
I write them to play for the folks, and hopefully [F] it makes some difference to them,
or at least makes them think, or [Gb] something.
I mean, I don't have any message, or I'm preaching to anybody, or have an agenda of any sort.
I'm usually lucky if I can remember them.
_ But, _ _ mostly that it's fun, it's supposed to be [E] fun.
Being [B] six years old, [G] I had seen some trains before, [A] so it's hard to figure [E] out
Being born here and growing up in Texas, _ [D] you're kind of imbued with this spirit of
You can do anything you say you can do.
There are no rules, there is no best there is.
Just do it.
_ Whatever it takes, do it. _
And you have this marvelous, _ _ _
_ _ [G] I don't know what it is,
all this wonderful storytelling input.
I mean, Texas is known for storytellers and bullshitters.
_ _ And that just seems to fit _ perfectly into writing songs.
Oh my mama, [C] ain't that [Gm] Texas lookin' [G] something?
Oh my mama, ain't that Texas lookin' something? _ _ _ _ _ _
Facts about this song
