T R U E   B L U E  -  THE UNOFFICIAL REV HAMMER SITE
T a b s
Tabs
 
 
 
 G u i t a r   T a b s
 

I don't play guitar myself but some wonderful, generous people let my use their transcritptions of Rev Hammer tabs. So far they all fit on one page. Hopefully, there's more to come in the future (nudge nudge)
 
And the Healing Has Begun
(Van Morrison)
(Drunk in Public)
(Complete lyrics)

Very easy to play, I use a 032033, which I'll call Cadd9 although I can't determine if this is the correct name. The whole song is ...

G Cadd9 D

... as far as I can tell. You could play C instead of Cadd9, and I think it would probably sound better if you had two guitars one playing each. It'd be a good idea to have two guitarists as well. :)

Intro:
G Cadd9 D

Verse:
          G                    Cadd9 D
And we'll walk down the avenue again
          G                                Cadd9 D
And we'll sing all the songs from way back when
          G                    Cadd9
And we'll walk down the avenue again
        D             G Cadd9 D
And the healing has begun

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

Burford Stomp
(Freeborn John; Too Drunk in Public; This is Modern Folk)
(Complete lyrics)

Intro: (without fiddle)
Am ... C F G Am

Chorus:
Am
They'll bury us down further in the ground,
        Am
Than we ever dug down for a living.
C                                        
Seven years of fighting for the
F    G     Am
Dead Man's Shilling.

Verse:
Am
Four hundred honest men

Ran to Cromwell's Call
C
Four hundred honest men
    F       G      Am
Now waiting by the wall

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

Caledonian Rain
(Industrial Sound and Magic; Drunk in Public; An Evening With Cooking Vinyl; Cooking Vinyl Sampler 2; Cooking Vinyl Sampler: For Mid and Budget Titles; Cooking Vinyl America Sampler)
(Complete lyrics)

I can't figure this out properly so I've just put the basic chords. Any help greatly appreciated.

Intro:
G (and the funny riff/chord thing I can't get)

Verse:
                       G
We are gonna sail that sea,
               G
To the western isles,
                 G
With the dirt of tears,
                 G
And the smoke of fires,
                  Em
Without a soul to see
                 G 
I will know you again.
D
We both need to get back on the track,
          D
Where the white is white and the black is black.
C                         C
Oh! I hope the Caledonian Rain
D          C         G
Washes us, washes us down.

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

California Bound
(Industrial Sound and Magic; Drunk in Public)
(Complete lyrics)

Intro:
Em (for 2 bars)

Verse:
Em
I knew this moment would face me,
     G
When I must take a horse and ride,
Em
Deep into the Pennine hills,
    G
And out of view of the other side.
   Asus2
If you be with me come along,
    C
For every moment is crushing time.
        Asus2
They pollute with any finger-tip,
        C
You can barely see the old moon shine.
       G                 D             Em
And, I fear that there's many miles to go,
              D
‘Til we reach higher ground,
Em
For this place seems
D          Em     D     Em     D     Em
California bound.

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

Drunkard's Waltz
(The Bishop of Buffalo; Oysterband: Deep Dark Ocean; Red Sky Coven Volumes 1&2)
(Complete lyrics)

Capo 2nd fret

(chords are written down relatively to capo, the song is actually written in A major)

this is a pretty simple piece of music but anyway, it sounds good and you should be able to performe it after having some pints ;-)

Figure 1:

      G

      q  e e e e    e   q  e e e     q  e e e e    q  e e e e

--|---5--5-5-5-5-----------5-5-5-|---5--5-5-5-5----5--5-5-5-5--|
--|---5--5-5-5-5-----------5-5-5-|---5--5-5-5-5----5--5-5-5-5--|
6-|.--2--2-2-2-2----2------2-2-2-|---2--2-2-2-2----2--2-2-2-2--|
4-|.--2--2-2-2-2----2-h-4--4-4-4-|---4--4-4-4-4----4--4-4-4-4--|
--|---4--4-4-4-4----x------x-x---|---x-------------x-----------|
--|---5-------------5------x-x---|---5-------------5-----------|

      Cadd9

      q   e e e e   q   e e e e      q  e e e e    e e e e e e

------5---5-5-5-5---5---5-5-5-5--|---5--5-5-5-5----5-5-5-5-5-5---|
------5---5-5-5-5---5---5-5-5-5--|---5--5-5-5-5----5-5-5-5-5-5---|
6-----2---2-2-2-2---2---2-2-2-2--|---2--2-2-2-2----2-2-2-2-2-2--.|
4-----4---4-4-4-4---4---4-4-4-4--|---4--4-4-4-4----4-4-2-2-2-2--.|
------5-------------5------------|---5-------------5-5 4-4-2-2---|
---------------------------------|-------------------------- ----|

Figure 2:

      Em                             C

      q  e e e e    q  e e e e       q  e e e e    q  e e e e  

--|---2--2-2-2-2----2--2-2-2-2---|---2--2-2-2-2----2--2-2-2-2----|
--|---2--2-2-2-2----2--2-2-2-2---|---3--3-3-3-3----3--3-3-3-3----|
6-|.--2--2-2-2-2----2--2-2-2-2---|---2--2-2-2-2----2--2-2-2-2---.|
4-|.--4--4-4-4-4----4--4-4-4-4---|---4--4-4-4-4----4--4-4-4-4---.|
--|---4--4-4-4-4----4--4-4-4-4---|---5--5-5-5-5----5--5-5-5-5----|
--|---2-------------2------------|-------------------------------|

Figure 3:

      G             D                Cadd9         D

      q  e e e e    q  e e e e       q  e e e e    q  e e e e

--|---5--5-5-5-5----4--4-4-4-4---|---5--5-5-5-5----4--4-4-4-4----|
--|---5--5-5-5-5----5--5-5-5-5---|---5--5-5-5-5----5--5-5-5-5----|
6-|.--2--2-2-2-2----4--4-4-4-4---|---2--2-2-2-2----4--4-4-4-4---.|
4-|.--2--2-2-2-2----2--2-2-2-2---|---4--4-4-4-4----2--2-2-2-2---.|
--|---4--4-4-4-4-----------------|---5--5-5-5-5------------------|
--|---5--------------------------|-------------------------------|

Intro:
(Figure 1)

Verse:
(Figure 1)
       G                       G
I come knock on the door and I rap on the heart
           Cadd9                      Cadd9
You've got stars in your eyes, it's a fine place to start
      G                    G
And I get a message that I take is divine
         Cadd9                       Cadd9
With the wind at our back till we're over the line

(Figure 2)
    Em                      C
And tomorrow's too late for this sort of thing
        Em                      C
For the sun may not rise if the soul doesn't sing

Chorus:
(Figure 3)
          G          D              Cadd9   D
There's a drunkard's waltz, can you take it?
     G           D                Cadd9   D
If I give you my bottle don't you break it
        G             D             Cadd9
We were born to love, come on let's make it
D       G
Be mine tonight

(Figure 1)

| G | Cadd9 | Em | C | Em | C | Em | D | D |

Final Chorus:
(Figure 3) (2x, last chord is Cadd9 instead of G)

Tapped by Detlef Lampe and written down by Michael Hartmann.

 

Happy Birthday Revolution
(Levellers, Phil Johnstone and Rev Hammer)
(Spitting Feathers; Levellers: Hello Pig; Levellers: Happy Birthday Revolution; The Fabbies: Let's Hear it For the Little Fella)
(Complete lyrics)

This transcription is traken from the live version. I think most of it is okay but there are some bits I'm really unsure of, the end particularly (note the chords marked with a '). If someone can help please do. I've not heard the album so I don't know if it's slightly different.

Capo 1

Intro:
A  F#m  A  F#m  B  E

Verse:
     A                                  D
 Car horns and Rumba music through this city's broken heart
    C#m              F#m
 Is this the Devil's own backyard?
        B
 It was forty years ago that old Batista fell
      E
 To a rag-bag of men the world remembers well

Chorus:
       A            F#m
 Happy Birthday revolution
       A            F#m
  Happy Birthday revolution
D                  Dsus4         G           A
  I'm standing here watching the world fall apart
G                   E           A
  Just watching the world fall apart

Bridge:
    D                           G
 We paint him on buildings with sadness in his eyes
       A                     F#m
 If we suffer hungry days we call it sacrifice
      B
 Some say his dream is full of holes but we have dignity and pride
 E
 We have independance or is it just some Yankee lie?

Fiddle Solo:
A  F#m  A'  A
D  B'   E   B
E  E

Outro:
       A            F#m
 Happy Birthday revolution
       A            F#m
 Happy Birthday revolution
       A            E
 Happy Birthday revolution
       A            F#m
 Happy Birthday revolution
       A            F#m
 Happy Birthday revolution
D                  Dsus4        G           A
 I'm standing here watching the world fall apart
F#m                E           A
 Just watching the world fall apart
                               A    E  A
 Just watching the world fall apart

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

Hobo
(Bob Dylan)
(Disagreement of the People; Levellers: Zeitgeist Out-Takes)
(Complete lyrics)

Intro:
G  G  C  G
G  G  D  G
G  G  G  G

Verse:
G                         C          G
As I was out walking on a corner one day,
  G                       D
I spied an old hobo, in a doorway he lay.
    G                            C             G
His face was all grounded in the cold sidewalk floor
    G                               D              G
And I guess he'd been there for the whole night or more.

Chorus:
C                G
Only a hobo, but one more is gone
                  D
Leavin' nobody to sing his sad song
C                 G
Leavin' nobody to carry him home
                                                           G
Only a hobo, but one more, one more, one more, one more is gone

G  C  G
G  G  D  G

G  G  C  G
G  G  D  G
G  G  G  G

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

Maid of the River
(A Few Minutes in his Company; The Dog Kennel Sessions # 2; Levellers: Zeitgeist)
(Complete lyrics)

This song is really easy, it's only got 4 chords. Also, if you have a capo, put it on the 2nd fret, and play Am C G and E chords.

Intro:
Bm  D  A  Bm

Verse:
          Bm                    D
She's the maid of the river, so beautiful plain
   A                         Bm
As fresh as the country that gave her her name
   Bm                       D
As crisp as the snow and as swift as the rain
    A                         Bm
She shone like the sun before all of our games
    Bm                         D
She shone like a jewel but her price was not gold
    A                             Bm
She cried more than most when her story was told
        Bm                        D
But her people were evil left her barren and cold
        A                              Bm
And her heart went to market where her body was sold

Chorus:
       Bm                D
I said hey hey won't you take me away
      A                          Bm
Coz I can't see the point in the dawn of the day
Bm                   D
So many people gonna take you away
A                        Bm
Leave little left except hatred

Bm  D  A  Bm
Bm  D  A  Bm

          F#                   Bm
She's the goddess of love, the goddess in green
    F#                  Bm
The goddess of all that I've ever seen
F#                   Bm
Goddess of hope, the goddess in brown
    F#                                       F#
The goddess of all that you've burned to the ground

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

Musical Folk Group
(Johnny Cash (original title: The One on the Right is on the Left))
(Too Drunk in Public)
(Complete lyrics)

Verse:
      C                                F                C
There once was a musical folk group, a picking, singing folk group
     F             C               C                 G
They sang mountain ballads and the folk songs of our land
          C                              F                     C
They were long on musical ability, folks thought they would go far
    F                  C      G                C
But political incompatability led to their downfall

Chorus:
          F                    C
Well, the one on the right was on the left
        G                     C
And the one in the middle was on the right
        F                   C
And the one on the left was in the middle
        G                           C
And the guy in the rear, he was the drummer

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

Paling of the Moon
(The Green Fool Recordings; Too Drunk in Public)
(Complete lyrics)

The A might be x022000, and the B might be x244000, x244222, or x244xxx.

Intro:
E  E  A  B
E  E  A  B
E  E  A  B
E  E  E* E  (E* = Esus4 = 022200)

Verse:
       A                            A
In the paling of the moon where the rushes swoon
     E                               E
On a river bank in early June in the summer of our love
A                                A
I plant a kiss on your quivering lips
    E                    E
And I seldom miss in the summer of our love.
     B                     B
Hold on to this time, hold on to my coat
     A                         A
Hold on to these words as they spill out of my throat.

Chorus:
    E                  A  B
I'm loving you now (3x)
             E    A  E
Forever once more.

F#m  E  F#m  A
E  A  B

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

Punchdrunk
(Industrial Sound and Magic; Too Drunk in Public; Red Sky Coven Volume 5)
(Complete lyrics)

I believe the A* is a normal A (x02220) followed by a slide up to xx555x. It's played between the verses and chorus too. You probably need to hear the song before trying to decipher my attempt.

Intro:
A*  8x

Verse:
A*  (repeat)
  Punchdrunk stood in the middle of the ring,

  The referee stood 'tween Murphy and him:

  They hadn't rung that bell when the head came in,

  Punchdrunk staggered with blood on his chin.

Chorus:
      F#m                          A*  (2x)
  But I, I ain't here to raise the lid,
F#m                            A
  For on Whitechapel Road they say:
                  E              A*
  That's just the way you earn a quid.

Transcribed by Alan Bigham. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

Searchlights (Night Time; Somewhere in the Distance)
(Road to Dendron; The Dog Kennel Sessions # 2; Demo Tape; Levellers: Fantasy;  Levellers: Help)
(Complete lyrics)

Verse:
Em                       Am             Em
I see fences where there was no fence before
    Em            Am               B7               Em
The flesh tearing wire hasn't even rusted round the door
Em                     Am               Em
Oh why the beauty that I could bring to you
Em             Am                B7               Em
Outside in the distance there is something coming through

Oh I say
Em             Am                B7               Em
Outside in the distance there is something coming through

Chorus:
Am                                  Em
Outside in the distance where those searchlights don't go
           Am                               Em
There's an immigrant who's crouching with a bundle of his clothes
    Am                            Em
The bushes start a rustling so he takes to his toes
              C           Em         B7
Just singing "this is the last of my shows"

Em  Am  Em  Am  B7  Em

Transcribed by Keith Dunnett. Taken from the Levellers Tabernacle with kind permission.

 

(Worse and Worse) Like the Son of a Goat
(The Bishop of Buffalo; Red Sky Coven Volume 3)
(Complete lyrics)

The C/G chord may be a simple C, but I prefer to play C/G

Em        D                 C/G
Well, the name is Llewellyn and I'm carved out of stone
Em          D             C/G
Just me and the mountain, the valley is home
Em             D               C/G
And I've mined for silver, and I've dug for gold
Em        D               C/G
But these days I find I'm just picking up coal
D                        C/G
And the weather howls in through the holes in the roof
D                             C/G
Till the only things standing are the ones with the roots
      Am        D                 C/G
And it's worse, oh worse, like the son of a goat.
Em       D       C/G

Transcribed by Derfel

 
 
© 1998-2009 Stefanie Fröhlke
Last update 22 Jul 2009