Chords for Paul Simon - The Story of Graceland (EPK - Vevo Version)
Tempo:
120.65 bpm
Chords used:
G
C
F
D
A
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[Am]
[D] [A]
[D]
Graceland with [Ab] the Paul Simon record, [Bbm] they kind of rocked a little [A] harder than some of the ones just before that.
The ones just before, of course, had [Bb] great songs on, but this one [Am] kind of had a little bit more low end going on.
I really think that the next generation still kind of has a pretty deep connection to Graceland.
It was really evocative [D] of being on like road trips with their family when they were, you know, five or six [G] years old.
These are the days of miracle and [G] wonder.
This [D] is the long distance call.
[G] The way the camera follows us in slow-mo.
[Db] It was [D] just, it just sort of [G] opened up a space inside of me.
The way we look to a [C] distant [D] constellation that's dying in a corner of the sky.
These are the days of miracle and wonder and [Am] don't cry.
[D] [G]
[B] The music that [G] led me to South Africa was accordion jive hits by the [A] Boyoyo [D] Boys.
I [G] used to play this tape [E] all the time and I asked the record company, do we have anybody, you know, in South Africa?
They said, yeah, producer at Hilton, Rosenthal.
Paul put the cassette in, played this thing and he sang.
I said, you know, you can just do that here in New York.
Just get a couple of great players.
[D] You know, you've got the instrumentation, [G] players [D] can certainly do that.
He looked at me, [E] he [D] said, no, no, no, no, no, [G]
I'm going [D] down.
[G]
[D] [A] [D]
[G] [D] [G]
[Am] [G] [D] I [G] saw [C] this guy with cowboy boots, you know, and I was kind of [G] asking myself,
what is this guy trying to do?
Because it's time [C] to, you [G] know, fuse pop music plus, you know, African music.
For me, music is [D] the closest thing to [C] religion.
And if [G] it's utilized in the [C] right [G] way, it can inform and [Gb] do [A] good things.
[G] It can [D] find solutions [F] to their problems and grace them with it.
[C] [F]
[C] I was crazy [F] in love.
I don't want no more from your [G] world.
So we try [F] I Know What I Know.
[C] [F] [G] I was in South Africa [C] for a [D] very short time, like maybe 10 or 12 days, recording frantically.
[C] And it [G] was exhilarating.
It was really amazing.
When [D] I recorded with General [Dm] Sherinda, the song that became I Know What I Know.
[G] They came in with the whole family, mothers and their children.
It was like a party.
I
[F] [G]
[C] [Dm] [G] asked him, [C] what's that song about?
[D] And he said, you know, it's [C] about, remember the [G] 60s when, you [D] know,
when girls wore really short skirts, [Bb] wasn't that great?
That's what it [Bbm] was about.
They're making up pop music.
[A] And I said, well, I'm going to make a song about that.
And I said, well, I'm going to make a song about that.
[Ebm] One day, Ray started [F] playing the riff.
[C] [Gm] Next morning, [F] I said to him, I have a [C] feeling that [F] yesterday, [C] at least one [F] of the hits from this album [C] was recorded.
It [F] really was [C] world music in [F] that people were trading [C]
[Bb] information [F] that they knew.
He knew what I had done and he was giving it to me [G]
with the information that he also knew from [Gm] being a South African guitarist with roots in Mali.
I can't wait to hear this stuff on music anymore.
[F] If you would be [D] my bodyguard, I can [C] be your [F] long lost pal.
[Gm] [F]
[C] [F] I can call you [Gm] Betty, Betty when you [C] call me, [F] you can call me [C] anymore.
[F]
[E] They were doing the song, Diamonds on the Soles of His Shoes.
We decided to put Lady Smith Black Mombazo at the end of the track.
And they had never sung with musicians before.
They always sang a cappella.
We were there maybe not even [F] two hours time.
And then poor Simon [Ab] said, at the end, let's do this.
[F]
[Bb] [C] Oh [F] yeah, oh yeah, everybody was singing it.
[C] [F]
[Bb] [C] [F]
The challenge on this [C] album was [F] there were no songs, [E] there was no arrangement.
So we finished all our editing, we made tracks that had some semblance of a song there.
And he went out and tried desperately to put words to each one.
So you get a song like Graceland where, you know, in the middle of the song, there's a girl in New York City who calls herself the human trampoline.
There's a girl in New York City who calls herself the human [A] trampoline.
A lyric that would [Dbm] never appear in South African. Song.
[B] I mean, it's a very New York lyric.
I was taking [E] absurdist lyrics, which I thought had no place with this rhythm track,
and [Eb] finally saying, well, maybe it does have a [A] place.
[Dbm]
And I kept singing [Abm] this chorus, I'm [B] going to Graceland, I'm going to Graceland,
and I kept thinking, well, of course, [E] that'll go away because the song [A] is not about Elvis Presley or [E] Graceland.
I mean, it's a South African record, [D] [Dbm] but it wouldn't [E] go away.
And finally I said, ah, you know, it's not going away, I better go to Graceland.
You know, that gave the song a larger meaning.
And in fact, it gave the album a larger meaning, and that's why [D]
[E] I used that as the title for the whole album.
[A] [E] Graceland.
[Eb] [Bb]
[Eb]
[F] [Eb] [Bb] [Eb] For me, Graceland is a learning experience of a uniquely [Bb] [Eb] elevated level in my life.
Musically, [Bb] politically,
[Eb] everything about [Bb] growing up.
[Eb] It's the gift that I got.
[N]
[D] [A]
[D]
Graceland with [Ab] the Paul Simon record, [Bbm] they kind of rocked a little [A] harder than some of the ones just before that.
The ones just before, of course, had [Bb] great songs on, but this one [Am] kind of had a little bit more low end going on.
I really think that the next generation still kind of has a pretty deep connection to Graceland.
It was really evocative [D] of being on like road trips with their family when they were, you know, five or six [G] years old.
These are the days of miracle and [G] wonder.
This [D] is the long distance call.
[G] The way the camera follows us in slow-mo.
[Db] It was [D] just, it just sort of [G] opened up a space inside of me.
The way we look to a [C] distant [D] constellation that's dying in a corner of the sky.
These are the days of miracle and wonder and [Am] don't cry.
[D] [G]
[B] The music that [G] led me to South Africa was accordion jive hits by the [A] Boyoyo [D] Boys.
I [G] used to play this tape [E] all the time and I asked the record company, do we have anybody, you know, in South Africa?
They said, yeah, producer at Hilton, Rosenthal.
Paul put the cassette in, played this thing and he sang.
I said, you know, you can just do that here in New York.
Just get a couple of great players.
[D] You know, you've got the instrumentation, [G] players [D] can certainly do that.
He looked at me, [E] he [D] said, no, no, no, no, no, [G]
I'm going [D] down.
[G]
[D] [A] [D]
[G] [D] [G]
[Am] [G] [D] I [G] saw [C] this guy with cowboy boots, you know, and I was kind of [G] asking myself,
what is this guy trying to do?
Because it's time [C] to, you [G] know, fuse pop music plus, you know, African music.
For me, music is [D] the closest thing to [C] religion.
And if [G] it's utilized in the [C] right [G] way, it can inform and [Gb] do [A] good things.
[G] It can [D] find solutions [F] to their problems and grace them with it.
[C] [F]
[C] I was crazy [F] in love.
I don't want no more from your [G] world.
So we try [F] I Know What I Know.
[C] [F] [G] I was in South Africa [C] for a [D] very short time, like maybe 10 or 12 days, recording frantically.
[C] And it [G] was exhilarating.
It was really amazing.
When [D] I recorded with General [Dm] Sherinda, the song that became I Know What I Know.
[G] They came in with the whole family, mothers and their children.
It was like a party.
I
[F] [G]
[C] [Dm] [G] asked him, [C] what's that song about?
[D] And he said, you know, it's [C] about, remember the [G] 60s when, you [D] know,
when girls wore really short skirts, [Bb] wasn't that great?
That's what it [Bbm] was about.
They're making up pop music.
[A] And I said, well, I'm going to make a song about that.
And I said, well, I'm going to make a song about that.
[Ebm] One day, Ray started [F] playing the riff.
[C] [Gm] Next morning, [F] I said to him, I have a [C] feeling that [F] yesterday, [C] at least one [F] of the hits from this album [C] was recorded.
It [F] really was [C] world music in [F] that people were trading [C]
[Bb] information [F] that they knew.
He knew what I had done and he was giving it to me [G]
with the information that he also knew from [Gm] being a South African guitarist with roots in Mali.
I can't wait to hear this stuff on music anymore.
[F] If you would be [D] my bodyguard, I can [C] be your [F] long lost pal.
[Gm] [F]
[C] [F] I can call you [Gm] Betty, Betty when you [C] call me, [F] you can call me [C] anymore.
[F]
[E] They were doing the song, Diamonds on the Soles of His Shoes.
We decided to put Lady Smith Black Mombazo at the end of the track.
And they had never sung with musicians before.
They always sang a cappella.
We were there maybe not even [F] two hours time.
And then poor Simon [Ab] said, at the end, let's do this.
[F]
[Bb] [C] Oh [F] yeah, oh yeah, everybody was singing it.
[C] [F]
[Bb] [C] [F]
The challenge on this [C] album was [F] there were no songs, [E] there was no arrangement.
So we finished all our editing, we made tracks that had some semblance of a song there.
And he went out and tried desperately to put words to each one.
So you get a song like Graceland where, you know, in the middle of the song, there's a girl in New York City who calls herself the human trampoline.
There's a girl in New York City who calls herself the human [A] trampoline.
A lyric that would [Dbm] never appear in South African. Song.
[B] I mean, it's a very New York lyric.
I was taking [E] absurdist lyrics, which I thought had no place with this rhythm track,
and [Eb] finally saying, well, maybe it does have a [A] place.
[Dbm]
And I kept singing [Abm] this chorus, I'm [B] going to Graceland, I'm going to Graceland,
and I kept thinking, well, of course, [E] that'll go away because the song [A] is not about Elvis Presley or [E] Graceland.
I mean, it's a South African record, [D] [Dbm] but it wouldn't [E] go away.
And finally I said, ah, you know, it's not going away, I better go to Graceland.
You know, that gave the song a larger meaning.
And in fact, it gave the album a larger meaning, and that's why [D]
[E] I used that as the title for the whole album.
[A] [E] Graceland.
[Eb] [Bb]
[Eb]
[F] [Eb] [Bb] [Eb] For me, Graceland is a learning experience of a uniquely [Bb] [Eb] elevated level in my life.
Musically, [Bb] politically,
[Eb] everything about [Bb] growing up.
[Eb] It's the gift that I got.
[N]
Key:
G
C
F
D
A
G
C
F
_ _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Graceland with [Ab] the Paul Simon record, [Bbm] they kind of rocked a little [A] harder than some of the ones just before that.
The ones just before, of course, had [Bb] great songs on, but this one [Am] kind of had a little bit more low end going on.
I really think that the next generation still kind of has a pretty deep connection to Graceland.
It was really evocative [D] of being on like road trips with their family when they were, you know, five or six [G] years old.
These are the days of miracle and [G] wonder.
This [D] is the long distance call.
[G] _ The way the camera follows us in slow-mo.
[Db] It was [D] just, it just sort of [G] opened up a space inside of me.
The way we look to a [C] distant [D] constellation that's dying in a corner of the sky.
_ _ These are the days of miracle and wonder and [Am] don't cry.
[D] _ _ _ [G] _
_ [B] _ The music that [G] led me to South Africa was accordion jive hits by the [A] Boyoyo [D] Boys.
I [G] used to play this tape [E] all the time and I asked the record company, do we have anybody, _ you know, in South Africa?
They said, yeah, producer at Hilton, Rosenthal.
Paul put the cassette in, played this thing and he sang.
I said, you know, you can just do that here in New York.
Just get a couple of great players.
[D] You know, you've got the instrumentation, [G] players [D] can certainly do that.
He looked at me, [E] _ he [D] said, no, no, no, no, no, [G]
I'm going [D] down.
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ [D] _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _
_ [Am] _ _ [G] _ _ [D] I [G] saw [C] this guy _ with cowboy boots, you know, and I was kind of [G] asking myself,
what is this guy trying to do?
Because it's time [C] to, you [G] know, fuse pop music plus, you know, African music.
For me, music is [D] the closest thing to [C] religion.
And if [G] it's utilized in the [C] right [G] way, it can inform and [Gb] do [A] good things.
[G] It can [D] find solutions [F] to their problems _ and grace them with it. _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
[C] I was crazy [F] in love.
I don't want no more from your [G] world.
_ _ So we try [F] I Know What I Know.
[C] _ [F] _ _ [G] I was in South Africa [C] for a [D] very short time, like maybe 10 or 12 days, recording frantically.
[C] And it [G] was exhilarating.
It was really amazing.
When [D] I recorded with General [Dm] Sherinda, the song that became I Know What I Know.
[G] They came in with the whole family, mothers and their children.
It was like a party.
I _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ [Dm] _ _ [G] asked him, [C] what's that song about?
_ [D] And he said, you know, it's [C] about, remember the [G] 60s when, you [D] know,
when girls wore really short skirts, [Bb] wasn't that great?
_ That's what it [Bbm] was about.
_ They're making up pop music.
[A] And I said, well, I'm going to make a song about that.
And I said, well, I'm going to make a song about that.
[Ebm] One day, Ray started [F] playing the riff.
[C] _ _ [Gm] Next morning, [F] I said to him, I have a [C] feeling that [F] yesterday, [C] at least one [F] of the hits from this album [C] was recorded.
It [F] really was [C] world music in [F] that people were trading [C]
[Bb] information [F] that they knew.
He knew what I had done and he was giving it to me _ [G]
with the information that he also knew from _ [Gm] being a South African guitarist with roots in Mali.
I can't wait to hear this stuff on music anymore.
[F] If you would be [D] my bodyguard, I can [C] be your [F] long lost pal.
_ [Gm] _ [F] _
[C] _ [F] I can call you [Gm] Betty, Betty when you [C] call me, [F] you can call me [C] anymore.
_ _ [F] _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ They were doing the song, Diamonds on the Soles of His Shoes.
We decided to put Lady Smith Black Mombazo at the end of the track.
And they had never sung with musicians before.
They always sang _ a cappella.
_ _ We were there maybe not even [F] two hours time.
And then poor Simon [Ab] said, at the end, let's do this.
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ [C] Oh [F] yeah, oh yeah, everybody was singing it.
_ _ [C] _ _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [C] _ _ [F] _
_ The challenge on this [C] album was [F] there were no songs, [E] there was no arrangement.
So we finished all our editing, we made tracks that had some semblance of a song there.
And he went out and tried desperately to put words to each one.
So you get a song like Graceland where, you know, in the middle of the song, there's _ a girl in New York City who calls herself the human trampoline.
There's a girl in New York City who calls herself the human [A] trampoline. _
_ _ A lyric that would [Dbm] never appear in South African. Song.
_ _ _ [B] I mean, it's a very New York lyric.
I was taking [E] absurdist lyrics, which I thought had no place with this rhythm track,
_ and [Eb] finally saying, well, maybe it does have a [A] place.
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Dbm] _
_ And I kept singing [Abm] this chorus, I'm [B] going to Graceland, I'm going to Graceland,
and I kept thinking, well, of course, [E] that'll go away because _ _ the song [A] is not about Elvis Presley or [E] Graceland.
I mean, it's a South African record, _ [D] [Dbm] but it wouldn't [E] go away.
_ And finally I said, ah, you know, it's not going away, I better go to Graceland.
You know, that gave the song a larger meaning.
_ _ _ And in fact, it gave the album a larger meaning, and that's why _ [D] _
[E] I used that as the title for the whole album. _ _ _
[A] _ [E] _ Graceland.
_ [Eb] _ _ [Bb] _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ [Eb] _ [Bb] _ [Eb] For me, Graceland is a learning experience of a uniquely [Bb] _ _ [Eb] elevated level in my life. _
Musically, _ _ _ [Bb] politically, _ _
[Eb] everything about [Bb] growing up.
_ [Eb] It's the gift that I got.
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _
_ _ [D] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _
_ _ _ [D] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ Graceland with [Ab] the Paul Simon record, [Bbm] they kind of rocked a little [A] harder than some of the ones just before that.
The ones just before, of course, had [Bb] great songs on, but this one [Am] kind of had a little bit more low end going on.
I really think that the next generation still kind of has a pretty deep connection to Graceland.
It was really evocative [D] of being on like road trips with their family when they were, you know, five or six [G] years old.
These are the days of miracle and [G] wonder.
This [D] is the long distance call.
[G] _ The way the camera follows us in slow-mo.
[Db] It was [D] just, it just sort of [G] opened up a space inside of me.
The way we look to a [C] distant [D] constellation that's dying in a corner of the sky.
_ _ These are the days of miracle and wonder and [Am] don't cry.
[D] _ _ _ [G] _
_ [B] _ The music that [G] led me to South Africa was accordion jive hits by the [A] Boyoyo [D] Boys.
I [G] used to play this tape [E] all the time and I asked the record company, do we have anybody, _ you know, in South Africa?
They said, yeah, producer at Hilton, Rosenthal.
Paul put the cassette in, played this thing and he sang.
I said, you know, you can just do that here in New York.
Just get a couple of great players.
[D] You know, you've got the instrumentation, [G] players [D] can certainly do that.
He looked at me, [E] _ he [D] said, no, no, no, no, no, [G]
I'm going [D] down.
_ _ _ _ [G] _ _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _ [D] _
_ _ _ [G] _ _ [D] _ _ [G] _
_ [Am] _ _ [G] _ _ [D] I [G] saw [C] this guy _ with cowboy boots, you know, and I was kind of [G] asking myself,
what is this guy trying to do?
Because it's time [C] to, you [G] know, fuse pop music plus, you know, African music.
For me, music is [D] the closest thing to [C] religion.
And if [G] it's utilized in the [C] right [G] way, it can inform and [Gb] do [A] good things.
[G] It can [D] find solutions [F] to their problems _ and grace them with it. _ _ _ _
[C] _ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _
[C] I was crazy [F] in love.
I don't want no more from your [G] world.
_ _ So we try [F] I Know What I Know.
[C] _ [F] _ _ [G] I was in South Africa [C] for a [D] very short time, like maybe 10 or 12 days, recording frantically.
[C] And it [G] was exhilarating.
It was really amazing.
When [D] I recorded with General [Dm] Sherinda, the song that became I Know What I Know.
[G] They came in with the whole family, mothers and their children.
It was like a party.
I _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [C] _ _ [Dm] _ _ [G] asked him, [C] what's that song about?
_ [D] And he said, you know, it's [C] about, remember the [G] 60s when, you [D] know,
when girls wore really short skirts, [Bb] wasn't that great?
_ That's what it [Bbm] was about.
_ They're making up pop music.
[A] And I said, well, I'm going to make a song about that.
And I said, well, I'm going to make a song about that.
[Ebm] One day, Ray started [F] playing the riff.
[C] _ _ [Gm] Next morning, [F] I said to him, I have a [C] feeling that [F] yesterday, [C] at least one [F] of the hits from this album [C] was recorded.
It [F] really was [C] world music in [F] that people were trading [C]
[Bb] information [F] that they knew.
He knew what I had done and he was giving it to me _ [G]
with the information that he also knew from _ [Gm] being a South African guitarist with roots in Mali.
I can't wait to hear this stuff on music anymore.
[F] If you would be [D] my bodyguard, I can [C] be your [F] long lost pal.
_ [Gm] _ [F] _
[C] _ [F] I can call you [Gm] Betty, Betty when you [C] call me, [F] you can call me [C] anymore.
_ _ [F] _ _
[E] _ _ _ _ _ They were doing the song, Diamonds on the Soles of His Shoes.
We decided to put Lady Smith Black Mombazo at the end of the track.
And they had never sung with musicians before.
They always sang _ a cappella.
_ _ We were there maybe not even [F] two hours time.
And then poor Simon [Ab] said, at the end, let's do this.
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ [C] Oh [F] yeah, oh yeah, everybody was singing it.
_ _ [C] _ _ _ [F] _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ [C] _ _ [F] _
_ The challenge on this [C] album was [F] there were no songs, [E] there was no arrangement.
So we finished all our editing, we made tracks that had some semblance of a song there.
And he went out and tried desperately to put words to each one.
So you get a song like Graceland where, you know, in the middle of the song, there's _ a girl in New York City who calls herself the human trampoline.
There's a girl in New York City who calls herself the human [A] trampoline. _
_ _ A lyric that would [Dbm] never appear in South African. Song.
_ _ _ [B] I mean, it's a very New York lyric.
I was taking [E] absurdist lyrics, which I thought had no place with this rhythm track,
_ and [Eb] finally saying, well, maybe it does have a [A] place.
_ _ _ _ _ _ [Dbm] _
_ And I kept singing [Abm] this chorus, I'm [B] going to Graceland, I'm going to Graceland,
and I kept thinking, well, of course, [E] that'll go away because _ _ the song [A] is not about Elvis Presley or [E] Graceland.
I mean, it's a South African record, _ [D] [Dbm] but it wouldn't [E] go away.
_ And finally I said, ah, you know, it's not going away, I better go to Graceland.
You know, that gave the song a larger meaning.
_ _ _ And in fact, it gave the album a larger meaning, and that's why _ [D] _
[E] I used that as the title for the whole album. _ _ _
[A] _ [E] _ Graceland.
_ [Eb] _ _ [Bb] _
[Eb] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[F] _ _ [Eb] _ [Bb] _ [Eb] For me, Graceland is a learning experience of a uniquely [Bb] _ _ [Eb] elevated level in my life. _
Musically, _ _ _ [Bb] politically, _ _
[Eb] everything about [Bb] growing up.
_ [Eb] It's the gift that I got.
_ _ _ _ [N] _ _