Blue Chair tab - elvis costello

From: schnitzi@east.isx.com (Mark J. Schnitzius)

Blue Chair
from Blood and Chocolate
tabbed by Mark Schnitzius (schnitzi@east.isx.com)
corrections below by kevinmoore@cruz.com (Kevin Moore)
	and Stu Shea 


Here's my best stab at this song.  Parts of it seem to be not quite
right (especially the part where Elvis is stating whose turn it is
to do what).  Improvements are more than welcome.   --Mark

---------------------------------------------------------------------

[Intro stays on D]

D                        G         D 
 Now it's just you and me, my blue friend
D
 And you say that it's you that she's thinking of
G          F#7
 And our affair must end
D
 But if it's you that she's thinking of
G                              F#7
 I think my broken heart might mend

         G          F#m      Em           D
Now it's my turn to talk and your turn to think
G            A       D          G
Your turn to buy and my turn to drink
G            F#m     Em         D
Your turn to cry and my turn to sink 
G                Em
 Down in the Blue Chair
G     A           D
 Down in the Blue Chair

Now I've made up my mind 
I've made my mistake
And I know that she cries for you
When she's barely awake
Well she's going to bend your mind
Well I hope it don't break

[Repeat chorus]

                 Em
Down in the Blue Chair
       F#m       G
We can watch our troubles rise
     F#m            Em
Like smoke into the air
          A         D
And drift up to the ceiling
                 Em
Down in the Blue Chair
        F#m              G        F#m
You can feel just like a boy or a man
         Em             A             D
And next minute you can find yourself kneeling
                 F#m
Down in the Blue Chair
        G#m         A          G#m
They're boasting of loving the daylights 
      F#m        G#m          Bm
right out of her in the small hours
                 Em
Down in the Blue Chair
    F#m           G             F#m
You say that your love lasts forever
     Em           G          A     A/G  A/F#     A/E
when you know the night just hours      uh ho ho ho ho ho

And still I want her right now
Not any minute, hour or day
And wherever she is tonight
I want her anyway
I suppose she never said to you,
You were just in the way

         G          F#m      Em           D
Now it's my turn to talk and your turn to think
G            A       D          G
Your turn to buy and my turn to drink
G            F#m     Em         D
Your turn to cry and my turn to sink 
G                Em
 Down in the Blue Chair
G     A           D
 Down in the Blue Chair
G                Bm
 Down in the Blue Chair
Bb    A           D   [N.C.]
 Down in the Blue Chair

G     A           D
 Down in the Blue Chair
G     A           D
 Down in the Blue Chair
G     A           B7
 Down in the Blue Chair

Em    F#m  
  Down in the blue
G        Bm
 Blue becomes you
G     A           D
 Down in the Blue Chair




From: kevinmoore@cruz.com (Kevin Moore)


This is definitely a challenging one:

Here's what I got :

         G                   F#m7      C/E              D
Now it's my turn to talk and your turn to think
G                    A        A# aug       Bmi
Your turn to buy and my turn to drink
G                  F#m7     C/E          D
Your turn to cry and my turn to sink ...

C/E would just be a normal C chord with an open E in the bass.
(EC uses C/E a lot)

The A# augmented chord is weird and has something else in it,
possible an open E? My best guess for a fingering would be:

E string: deadened
A string: 1st finger on 1st fret
D string: 4th finger on 4th fret
G string: 2nd finger on 3rd  fret
B string: 3rd finger on 3rd fret
E string: Open

I don't know, though-I've never seen Elvis live-sigh-I have a laser disc of
The Juliet Letters, but of course he doesn't play guitar on that one.

The bridge is also strange-you have the right bassline: E F# G F# E (B) A D,
but I think the chord just stays on Emi, although some instrument other
than the guitar keeps hinting at D#'s

[The early 70's dylan inflections are beautiful in this section]

The second part of the bridge (boasting of loving the daylights...)
sounds like the first part transposed up a whole step, so
F#mi, F#mi/G#, F#mi/A, etc.

Then back to the Emi

and then when he says "you know the night just hours" [what does he
mean by that?] the bass goes: E and then in 8th notes: F# G F# G, still
all against some kind of Emi. I'm just playing the bass line and
plucking the G B and E strings open for the E mi
On the F#mi part, I'm barring the 2nd fret to get the 3 highest
strings and then playing the bassline on the low string.

Your descending bassline coming down against the A chord is right, as
is the rest of the transcription.

I hope my carriage returns aren't coming out weird. Let me know.

Now I've got to go buy the CD to hear it better. I was going to
wait for the box set reissues to get to this album.

Does anyone know when the next box set is due to be released?



From: Stu Shea 


On Mon, 22 Aug 1994, Mark J. Schnitzius wrote:

 
 Here's my best stab at this song.  Parts of it seem to be not quite
 right (especially the part where Elvis is stating whose turn it is
 to do what).  Improvements are more than welcome.   --Mark

Looks good to me except that the chorus might be a bit different:
 
          G          F#m      Em           D
 Now it's my turn to talk and your turn to think
 G            A       D          G
 Your turn to buy and my turn to drink
 G            F#m     Em         D
 Your turn to cry and my turn to sink 
 G                Em

         G           F#m       Em          D
Now it's my turn to talk and your turn to think
  G           A      Bbm         Bm
Your turn to buy and my turn to drink
  G           F#m     C          Bm
Your turn to cry and my turn to sink

blah blah


Or something like that.

Stuart Shea

Download PDF

Video Blue Chair

Elvis Costello - The Blue Chair - Albany, NY 10/7/07
Times Union Center, Albany, NY.

Elvis Costello cover Wave a White Flag with Annotated chords
My version of Wave a White Flag, by EC I've annotated the chords onto the video with this new feature, so let me know if it's useful to you, 'cos it takes ages, and if noone's using it I won't bother doing it again... Here's the chords, since so many people are asking for them...Please comment if they're any good to you.. "this is a rough version,i.e. the way I play it,without as much finger picking as EC plays it with..It's probably not all correct,but it's pretty close,if you disagree with any of it,let me know... There are bits of it which are hard to explain,and hard to write down,but actually quite easy to play,so don't be put off by my long attempts at explanation..I've put the word that a chord falls on in brackets,then the chord after it..Good luck.." Take off your shoes, hang up your wings (shoes)F,then G with a little run thus...(hang)320013 (up)320003(your) 320203 (wings)C Stack up the chairs, roll up the rug (chairs)F (rug)G Savor the things that sobriety brings (things)E7 (..briety)Am Drain in the last from a jug D7 with a similar run...(drain)xx0212 (in)xx0213 (the)xx0212 (last)xx0210 (from)D7 then a single note run..G on the bass Estring,then D E F on the D string... But when I hit the bottle, there's no tellin' what I'll do (when)C (Bottle)G7 (tellin')C (do)G7 'Cause something deep inside me wants to turn you black and blue (something)C (..side me)G7 (turn)C (blue)C7 I can't resist you, I can't wait (I)F (..sist you)Ab7 (I)C (can't) EmMaj7 (wait)C To twist your loving arms till you capitulate (twist)D7 (....late)G7 Next verse the same as above... Wave a white flag, put away the pistol (wave)Am (white)AmMaj7 (flag)G7 (put)Am (pistol)G7 Too many people just can't get kissed (too)Am (people)G7 (can't)C (kissed)C7 But if there's nothin' I can do to make amends, baby (nothin')F (do)Ab7 (...mends)A7sus4 (baby)A7 Hope you don't murder me (hope)Dm (mur..)Gsus4 (...der) G (me) C C7 Oh, was it all right, or was it okay (all)Am (right)AmMaj7 (O...)Am (...Kay)AmMaj7 I'll make it all up to you someday (all)Am (you)E7 (some)Am (day)C7 Oh, but you didn't have to laugh that way (didn't)Dm (laugh)E7 (way)Am Oh, no, you didn't have to laugh that way (didn't)D7 (way) G G7 Wave a white flag, put away the pistol Too many people just can't get kissed But if there's nothin' I can do to make amends, baby Hope you don't murder me Gee, baby, hope you don't murder me (baby) A7 (Hope)Dm (mur...)Gsus4 (...der)G (me) C Ab7=xx1112 EmMaj7 =021000 A7sus4=x02030 Gsus4=320013 A7=x02020 AmMaj7=x02110"