Chords for ✅ Gerry Leonard talks acoustic "Loving The Alien" PLUS live version with David Bowie

[Cm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
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With David and Loving the Alien, it was one of those [Bb] classic David phone calls to me.
I get a call from him and he's like, Gerry, do you want to play Loving the Alien with
me in Carnegie Hall next Saturday?
[N] I'm like, this is Tuesday.
I'm like, yeah, that sounds great.
He says, great, I'd like to start it on a C minor.
I was like, OK.
I said, I'd like to do it with just you, just guitar, and just the two of us.
I'm like, OK, _ great.
I'll see you at rehearsals on Friday.
Click, you know?
I'm like, I go to the records I put on Loving the Alien and it's so _ vast in terms of its 80s production.
I mean, the kitchen sink and the closets and the golf clubs are dumped in there.
It's all going on.
I'm like, OK.
_ I'm listening to it and I'm like, OK, let me just, what I like to do is, let me just
write out the harmony of this and let me start there.
When I did that, I was like, these chord changes are beautiful.
The sentiment of the song is really beautiful.
Then I thought, there's one little _ melodic thing that, let me see if I can do this for you. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ There's one little melodic phrase that kept jumping out, which is this little [Cm] arpeggio thing. _
_ _ _ _ It kind of has this, kind of sets the scene in a sense.
I was using these kind of loopers at the time and I was like, well, what if I just took
that and put it out there in space?
I had this idea that I would go. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ Then, with an acoustic guitar, just putting the chords over that, _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ it suddenly felt like,
oh, yeah, this is really, it's really beautiful when you stripped away all that stuff.
It's a classic example of where _ his writing and his harmony was always there.
What I've noticed with David and [Cm] his writing is he always has a very strong sense of the
harmony and the melody and where that goes.
Then you can dress it whatever way you want, kind of thing.
It starts off with, so we have these [Bb] [Ab] chords, which are [Bb] [Cm] not uncommon, but then [G] it goes,
_ [Abm] starts to change.
_ [Gb] _ _ [Db] _
_ [Dbm] _ _ [Bbm] _ _ [Fm] _ _ [Dbm] _
Then this funny out [Eb] of time thing, _
_ [Gm] _ [Bbm] _ bringing [Ab] _ _
us to this chorus.
I [Abm] think I got lucky with it _ because it's very guitar-shaped _ [Bb] for _ _
[Ab] the chorus.
Then I thought, maybe he wrote it that way on the guitar.
I don't know.
I really felt I had to come up with something that would work on the guitar to accompany him.
It ends up being this beautiful [Cm] thing. _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _ _
[Fm] _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [Bb] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ [Abm] _ _ _ _ [Gb] _ _ _
_ [Db] _ _ _ _ [Dbm] _ _ _
[Bbm] _ _ _ _ [Fm] _ _ _ _
[Dbm] _ _ _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Eb] It's _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [B] _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _ _ _
_ [Ab] _ _ _ [Em] all in there.
It's [N] just kind of buried.
That was kind of like of the time, I think, to separate out every instrument.
In those times of recording, everything had to be separated onto a separate track and remixed.
I think _ music just became dislocated in a sense or something.
The thing is, the _ song was [Eb] always in there.
To me, all I did was find [D] the really [Cm] important parts and pull them out. _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ _ _
[Ab] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] _ [Eb] Watching _ _ _ _ _
[Cm] them come and go _ _
[Bb] Templars and the _ Saracens
[Eb] They travel [Ab] in the Holy Land _ _
Opening [Bb] _ _ _ _ telegrams
Torture [Cm] comes and torture goes
_ Might to [Bb] give you anything
They build [Ab] a castle called the León _
Salvation [Bb] for the mirror black
[G] _ _ _
_ [Abm] _ Pray [Gb] all your sins are [Db] hooked _ upon [Dbm] the sky _
_ [Bbm] Pray and [Fm] with heathen light [Dbm] will _ [Bbm] _ [Eb] disappear _
_ _ _ _ _ [Eb] Pray _
[Ab] _ _ life's _ _ the saddest [Bb] view
_ _ _ [Abm] Believing the strangest things
_ _ Loving the [Eb] alien
_ _ _ _ [Ab] And your prayers _ it breaks the sky [Eb] in two
_ _ _ [Abm] Believing the strangest things
_ _ Loving the [Eb] alien
[Bbm] _ _ Thinking _ [Cm] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Cm] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [Bb] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ [Cm] of a different time
_ _ [Bb] Palestine a modern problem
_ _ Bounty [Ab] under wealth and land
_ _ Terror [Bb] in the Disney land
_ _ _ _ [Cm] Watching them come and go
_ _ _ [Bb] Tomorrow's and the yesterday's
_ _ [Ab] Christians and the unbelievers
_ Hanging [Bb] by the cross and in [G] the hay
_ [Abm] But if you pray [Gb] _ _ all your sins [Db] are hooked upon [Dbm] the sky
_ [Bbm] _ Pray [Fm] and with heathen [Dbm] light will _
[Bbm] _ _ [Eb] [Eb] disappear _ _ _ _
[Fm] Pray [Db] _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _
life's _ the [Eb] saddest view _
_ _ _ Believing the [B] _ strangest things
_ _ [Ab] Loving the alien
[Ebm] _
_ _ _ [Ab] And your _ prayer it breaks the [Eb] sky in [F] two
_ _ Believing [B] the strangest things
_ _ Loving the [Eb] alien _ _
You _ [Ab] _ pray _ _ till that brick [Bb] of door _ _ _
Believing [B] the strangest things _ _
Loving [Bb] the alien
_ And _ [Ab] your belief
_ Your love in the [Bb] alien _ _ _
[B] Believing the strangest things _ _
[Ab] Loving the alien _ _ _ _
[N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _