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Blue Chair

Elvis Costello
Version1
90

Chords in this song

Strum
D-DU-UDU
{tuning: Standard (EADGBE)}
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]
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
Down in the Blue Chair
This is definitely a challenging one:
Here's what I got :
>
>
>
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?
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:
>
>
>
>
>
blah blah
Or something like that.

Source: Songsterr · Rights holder? Request removal.

Arrangement source for Blue Chair by Elvis Costello

{tuning: Standard (EADGBE)}
 [D]Now it's just you and me, [G]my blue fri[D]end

 [D]And you say that it's you that she's thinking of

 [G]And our affa[F#7]ir must end

 [D]But if it's you that she's thinking of

 [G]I think my broken heart might me[F#7]nd

N[G]ow it's my t[F#m]urn to tal[Em]k and your tur[D]n to think

Y[G]our turn to bu[A]y and my [D]turn to drin[G]k

Y[G]our turn to cr[F#m]y and my [Em]turn to sink[D]

 [G]Down in the Blue C[Em]hair

 [G]Down in[A] the Blue Cha[D]ir

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]

D[Em]own in the Blue Chair

W[F#m]e can watch[G] our troubles rise

L[F#m]ike smoke into t[Em]he air

A[A]nd drift up[D] to the ceiling

D[Em]own in the Blue Chair

Y[F#m]ou can feel just l[G]ike a boy [F#m]or a man

A[Em]nd next minute y[A]ou can find you[D]rself kneeling

D[F#m]own in the Blue Chair

T[Abm]hey're boasti[A]ng of loving[Abm] the daylights

r[F#m]ight out of [Abm]her in the sma[Bm]ll hours

D[Em]own in the Blue Chair

Y[F#m]ou say that you[G]r love lasts fo[F#m]rever

w[Em]hen you know t[G]he night jus[A]t hours[A/G]      [A/F#]uh ho ho h[A/E]o 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

N[G]ow it's my t[F#m]urn to tal[Em]k and your tur[D]n to think

Y[G]our turn to bu[A]y and my [D]turn to drin[G]k

Y[G]our turn to cr[F#m]y and my [Em]turn to sink[D]

 [G]Down in the Blue C[Em]hair

 [G]Down in[A] the Blue Cha[D]ir

 [G]Down in the Blue C[Bm]hair

 [Bb]     [A]
 [D]   [N.
 [C].]
 Down in the Blue Chair

 [G]Down in[A] the Blue Cha[D]ir

 [G]Down in[A] the Blue Cha[D]ir

 [G]Down in[A] the Blue Cha[B7]ir

 [Em] Down i[F#m]n the blue

 [G]Blue becom[Bm]es you

 [G]Down in[A] the Blue Cha[D]ir

This is definitely a challenging one:

Here's what I got :

>
>[G]Now it's my turn to t[F#m7]alk and you[C/E]r turn to think   [D]
>
 [G]                     [A]
 [Bb] aug
>[Bm9]Your turn to buy and my turn to drink
>
>[G]Your turn to cry and[F#m7] my turn t[C/E]o sink ...    [D]

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?

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]Now it's my t[F#m]urn to talk[Em] and your turn [D]to think
>
> [G]Your turn to bu[A]y and my t[D]urn to drink [G]
>
> [G]Your turn to cr[F#m]y and my t[Em]urn to sink  [D]
>
  [G]                  [Em]

No[G]w it's my turn[F#m] to talk and[Em] your turn to [D]think

Yo[G]ur turn to buy[A] and my t[Bbm]urn to drink  [Bm]

Yo[G]ur turn to cry[F#m] and my tu[C]rn to sink   [Bm]

blah blah

Or something like that.

The chord source is shown as supplied because its ChordPro syntax could not be parsed.

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