Chords for The Recording of "Madiba"

_ _ _ _ _ _ [D] _
He's a world-class musician.
There's probably less than a handful of his caliber on the planet.
What makes him even greater is the fact that he doesn't have to prove it.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Dm] On this entire record, he steps out one time.
[D] The song is Mediva, which is the song
really about [Dm] the [D] grandeur and the complexity [Am] about who Nathan is.
[E] So the song Mediva, [D] named after President [Bb] Nelson Mandela,
pays tribute to [C] a man that was [Bbm] one of the most [C] important figures [B] on the planet.
[D] And for me, [Eb] it [A] _ correlates to my father [Dm] who was born in South Africa,
my grandparents who were missionaries.
It ties us to [A] South Africa in a very [Dm]
musical and rhythmic way.
[Am] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _
[G] _ _ _ _ [A] _ Chris Jiro [Am] played this song for me [C] about a year ago [Dm] when we were talking about [G] doing the record.
I could hear this [Gbm] bass line, this [Em] very haunting bass line that [D] stuck with me.
My intention [Gm] from the beginning was [Gbm] I wanted one [D] song to [E] represent, _ [A] if you said,
this is Nathan [Dm] East. _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [C] _ _ _ [Gbm] _ _ _ _
[Em] _ _ [A] _ _ [D] _ _ _ _
You get it on the floor [Gbm] with the musicians [Dm] and you have [B] everybody's instincts.
David Page was [A] in there, [Dm] Tim Carman, _ [Eb] Jeff Babco again, Ricky [Dm] Lawson,
and Mike [Bb] Thompson.
We start playing this piece and it [A] starts to go through
all these kind of [C] different sections.
[Eb] Let's just leave that length and then go to that section.
[Am] _
Once we actually captured the track, we just kept building on it.
How do you make it better?
How do you make it really, really mean [Dm] something?
I took it back to Nashville, _ [A] orchestrated it, put [C] the choir on it,
[D] _ put the live elements to it, and then handed it back to him.
You take your [Dm] song, and here now you're hearing your song, and one idea,
and [B] now it's going over here, and then that sparks this [F] idea to go over here.
Next [G] thing you know, we're on this [D] journey.
It's like a story [E] being told.
The track became [F] so much greater [G] than [E] the individuals [Dm] pulled in separate [E] directions.
It represents the best [Dm] of who he is.
It represents [G] all [E] of who he is.
[Dm] We're _ not [E] sitting in this town anymore.
[F] You start with darkness, and then [E] all of a sudden it ends in [Am] light.
[A] _ _ [Am] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ _ [F] _
[D] Chris has made some [Am] brilliant moves on this record, but for me,
[C]
when I heard what he did to the end of this, he got this journey, this adventure.
[G] And what he did [E] was actually he [G] turned a studio recording into a live stadium _ performance.
_ It's this really big celebration, and even that, which is an eight [F]-minute-long song,
is still pretty understated about his [Dm] ability.
[F] The thing that he had to sort of talk [Db] me into doing is [E] actually [C] soloing over and playing.
[Dm] I kind of like the track, and I [G] was just saying,
no, this track sounds good, I don't want to mess it up.
I'm usually the guy that, you know, no, let me just lay down a nice solid part,
and then you can do what you want.
But this tune [F] is basically a bass solo from start to finish.
_ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ [Dm] _ _ It's [C] great to have a song that I can call my own anthem,
and I will be forever grateful to Chris for coming up with this song.
[Fm] _ _ It's a very [C] proud gift to [F] give to my friend,
who has given [D] so much to me [F] and to the world.
_ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [F] _ _ [C] _ _ [Dm] _ _ [C] _ _
_ _ _ _ [F] _ _ [N] _ _