Chords for Oh Susanna sings Wendell Gee and Joe Boyd talks about R.E.M. @ Luminato

_ _ [G] _ _ _ _ _ _
[A] _ [G] And [Am] the deer _ _ takes a [D] tug _ upon the string _ [G] of a pale and [D] lying _ _ tree.
[G] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
It's [Dm] _ weird to give respect, [G] but somewhere [D] down the line he [C] chills. _ _
Whistle [G] as the wind _ _ [Bm] _
blows.
_ [C] _ _ _ _
Whistle [G] as the _ wind _
[D] blows through [G] the leaves. _ _
He had a [D] dream one [Am] night. _ _
_ _ _ [D] The tree had lost its middle, _ [Bm] so he built a [D] trunk of chicken wire.
[G] _ _ _ _ _
Chicken [D] _ _ [Am] wire. _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ Wire, the wire [Bm] turned a lizard's skin, [D]
and then he [C] climbed inside. _
It wasn't [G] even _ time [Bm] to _ _ [C] say _ _ goodbye to [G] Wendell G. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
Whistle [G] as the _ wind _ _ _ blows.
[C] _ _ _ _
Whistle [Em] as the _ _ wind _ _ [Bm] _ [C] blows.
_ _ [G]
But if the wind were color, _ _ _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
and the air [G] could _ _ speak.
[Bm] _ _ _ [C] _ _ _ _
Whistle _ [G] as the wind _ _ blows.
_ _ [C] _ _ _ _
Whistle _ [G] as the _ wind blows.
_ _ _ _ [C] Whistle _ _ _ _ _ [G] as the wind _ _ _ _ blows.
[C] _ _ _
Whistle _ as the [G] _ _
wind [Bm] _ _ _ [C] blows. _ _
_ [G] Whistle as the wind _ blows.
_ [C] _ _ _ _
We still [Bm] [G] have the view, _ _ _ [N] we _ _ _ _ [G] still have the _ view, _ _ _ _ _ _ _
we still have the view.
[D] _
_ _ _ [C] _ _ [Bm] _ _ [G] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _
_ _ [N] You came with a secret key to the song Wendell G.
_ I got an email from Mike Mills. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ And it seems that _ in the year [C] before they made that record, the record that I [G] made with them,
Tables of the Reconstruction, _ _ _ _ Michael [N]
Stipe and I think some of the other guys were _ involved in a film,
_ kind of experimental art film, I can't remember the name of the filmmaker,
but it was being made somewhere outside of Athens, Georgia.
And they would go out there frequently, drive this highway out of Athens, Georgia. _
And _ _ _ _ _ on _ _ that highway _ there's a used car dealership called Wendell G.
_ _ _ _ And _ that's about it. _ _ _
Now, _ _ I could _ _ _ _ _ _ footnote this _ [G] with _ what happened at the beginning of my [Bb] relationship with them.
When I got _ to Athens, [Dm] I actually went in [G] a studio that day and cut a demo of songs,
_ which I think that most of that demo is now available on the deluxe edition of _ Tables of Reconstruction. _ _ _
_ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _ _
_ And Peter Buck was the guy who was the buck, the guy who had the Fairport Convention records,
the Monique Drake records, and the _ Craig Mad [D] records.
It [G] was his idea, _ let's get Joe Boyd to be the record.
_ And the other guys were a little like, you know, Joe Boyd. _
_ _ _ But they were like, okay, Peter, you know, he sort of played his stuff, convinced us it was a good [Eb] idea,
and then I arrived, and we got along okay, _ [E] _
and then made the [G] fateful decision to do the record.
I said, we've got to do it in England, [Eb] so I've got a record there [N] in Iran, I can't just go away to Georgia.
[G] And they [E] liked the idea of getting it.
They didn't realize that London in February _ would be as depressing as they eventually found it.
_ _ _ _ And for a while, after they made the record, they hated the record.
[Bb]
And now, _ they've kind of come, like a lot of [G] critics who were kind of a little unsure about the record,
people seem to have come [Gm] around to the idea that it's actually kind of okay.
[N] _ [G] Some people even call it a good record. _
_ But _ _ _ _ _ the moment that, in my relationship with them, you know, [N] Mike Mills is very frank.
He was easy from the beginning.
Peter Barber liked the idea that I was doing it. _
Stein was a bit, you know, _ _ standoffish.
_ _ _ [G] And then we were having this conversation one day, which [N] somehow _ brought up the subject of the cut-ups, _ _
which is the project that William Burroughs did, where he took _ readings, he took the tape,
and [E] then he just cut the tape, [Eb] and jumbled it all together in a basket, and [N] then reassembled it. _ _ _ _
_ _ And Stein was obsessed with cut-ups.
And I think [G] you can tell from the lyrics that he almost [N] liked stringing together images in a [D] grand order.
You know, [E] that's sort of what a lot of the lyrics on [G] that record are like.
And then later on, he got much more linear and much more commercial as a result.
[N]
In that record, you can see a lot of them are [G] just strung together images.
Not quite grander, [D] but sort of, you can see that [E] he likes that.
Anyway, he mentioned cut-ups.
And I said, _ oh, well, back in the 60s, I met Byron Geisen once, who was William [Eb] Burroughs' _ collaborator,
the guy who did Carlton [N] Burroughs.
And Stein looked at me and said, _ you met Brian Geisen?
_ And I said, yeah, he was [G] kind of a nice guy.
_ And from that [N] point, I was fine.
_ Stein, [Gm] at that point, decided I was okay.
[G] And so we got well-read.