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Richard Thompson : Mirror Blue
1994

  1. For The Sake Of Mary
  2. I Can't Wake Up To Save My Life
  3. The Way That It Shows
  4. Easy There, Steady Now
  5. King Of Bohemia
  6. Shane And Dixie

  7. Mingus Eyes
  8. I Ride In Your Slipstream
  9. Beeswing
  10. Mascara Tears
  11. Taking My Business Elsewhere

For The Sake Of Mary

.
C5
D5
.
C5
B5
A/d
F5
.
|-----x----x------|-x---x---x---x------|
|-----x----x------|-x---x---x---x------| x4
|-----x----x------|-x---x---x---x------|
|-----5---/7------|-5---4---0---x------|
|-----3---/5------|-3---2---0---3------|
|-----x----x------|-x---x---x---1------|
D
For the sake of Mary I kicked the reds
F
Junked the juice, I drink coffee instead
D
Straightened my teeth, bent my back
F
D5
Cut my friends dead from the old rat pack, for Mary, for Mary She bought me this silk suit, watch and chain She put the rhythm in my stride again She showed me the way to make her feel good If I could do more then I surely would, for Mary, ah Mary
G
For the sake of Mary I played my hand
D
She still don't trust me to be her man
G
I say the right thing but my timing's bad
Am
G
She thinks I'm like the rest, but I'm the best she's ever had
Intro riff x4
For the sake of Mary For the sake of Mary Oh I was cook first class on the Belfast B But when she sailed she sailed without me In Needle Pete's I got my last tattoo In bleeding letters of red and blue for Mary, ah, for Mary For the sake of Mary I changed my drift I got a good job on the graveyard shift She set her heart on a pretty little place I want to see the tears of joy on her face, oh-oh
Intro riff
For the sake of Mary
Bb
C
D
C
C/b
C/a
F
x2
Intro riff x2
For the sake of Mary I keep the flame I don't want to be a villain again She had her bad times and it shook her about I don't want to take the easy way out, no, no
Intro riff x4
For the sake of Mary For the sake of Mary For the sake of Mary

I Can't Wake Up To Save My Life

A
D
In my nightmare everything's wrong
F#m
Esus4
I'm waiting for love, but you come along You smile, you wave, you great me, Ciao! But you seem too happy to see me somehow
Em
B7
Then the sky falls in on my head
Em
B7
Your nails grow long, your eyes turn red
A
You say, forever dear and a day
D
You promise you're never going to go away
E
And my feet won't move when I run the other way
A
D
F#m
D
I can't wake up to save my life I can't wake up to save my life In my nightmare you forgive me The cruelest gift you could ever give me You say that you understand me now But your eyes say, brother, I'll get you somehow Then the lightning streaks across the room You smell like something fresh from the tomb You squeeze too hard, you insist on kissing When it seems like half your face is missing And your hair's turned into reptiles hissing I can't wake up to save my life I can't wake up to save my life Things I done make my dreams go bad Like Borstal boys coming home to Dad What ye reap so shall ye sow Now shake me, wake me, go man go I can't wake up to save my life I can't wake up to save my life

The Way That It Shows

Tuning: DADGBE (Drop D)
C/g 5x555x F# 444322
G 5x005x Gm 5x0333
Bm x2443x E7 22213x
C/g
G
C/g
G
You're going to give yourself away, one of these nights
C/g
G
C/g
G
Your gaze of compassion, just a little too right
C/g
G
C/g
G
Your hug of encouragement, a little too tight
Dm
Am
Bm
F#
And then he'll know, it's in the little things betrayed You're going to give yourself away to some Casanova On the spills and stains of a backstage sofa He'll catch you yawning with one leg over
Dm
Am
Bb
Gm
And there's the sin, must be the enemy within
Dm
That's the way that it shows
Bm
That's the way that it shows
Gm
That's the way that it shows
E7
That's the way that it shows
Dm
That's the way that it shows
Bm
That's the way that it shows
Gm
A slip of the tongue, a squeeze of the hand
E7
A
A7
That's the way that it shows There's glycerine in the tear, rouge in the blush Your artful stammer, a little too rushed All passion to the eye, all cold to the touch And then he'll guess, your mind has drifted in the kiss There's a chink in your armour, a crack in your defenses When your iron will gives way to your senses Your whispered sweet nothings all sound like expenses And that's enough, he won't believe your words of love And that's the way that it shows That's the way that it shows Yes, that's the way that it shows That's the way that it shows That's the way that it shows It's the, that's the way that it shows A slip of the tongue A squeeze of the hand
E7
Dm
Bm
Gm
E7
That's the way that it shows

Easy There, Steady Now

Tuning: CGDGBE (Drop C/g)
Capo:
V
Gm7 x00331 Gm7 x030xx
C/g x02010 Gm6 x020xx
Cm6/g x0121x Gm+ x010xx
Am x22210 Gm x000xx
Em 4x2000
|-----------------|-------------------------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|-----------------------1-3-----|-----------------|
|-----------------|-0-----2-3---3---0-2-3---------|-----------------|
|---0---0---0---0-|-----0-------0-------0-------0-|---0---0---0---0-|
|-0---0---0---0---|-0-------0-------0-------0-----|-0---0---0---0---|
|-----------------|-------------------------------|-----------------|
|-5-----3-------3-----------------|---------------------------------|
|---------5-------5-3-------------|---------------------------------|
|---------------------5-3-2-0-0-3-|-2-------------------------------|
|-----0-------0-------0-------0---|-----0-------0-------0-------0---|
|-0-------0-------0-------0-------|-0-------0-------0-------0-------|
|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
|-1-----1-1---------------1---1---|-1-0---0-0-----------------------|
|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
|-3-----3-3---------------3---3---|-3-----3-3-----------------------|
|-0---2---0---2---0---2---0---2---|-0---2---0---2---0---2---0---2---|
|-0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---|-0---0---0---0---0---0---0---0---|
|---------------------------------|---------------------------------|
Gm7
Jack-knife with a precious load
C/g
Spills its guts all over the road
Gm7
Excuse me, I had to smile
Cm6/g
Lost my grip too for a while
Gm7
Gm6
Easy there, steady now
Gm+
Gm
Easy there, steady now She didn't have the decency To sweep away what's left of me I don't have the presence of mind To walk along in a straight line Easy there, steady now Easy there, steady now
Am
I call your name, I call it loud
Em
I see your face in every crowd Nosebleed down the bathroom wall Leaves a pool down in the stall I wonder where you are tonight Red dress, skin so white Easy there, steady now Easy there, steady now 3 AM an empty town Doctor Marten's echo down Old man heartbreak follows you Corruption's shadow swallows you Easy there, steady now Easy there, steady now I call your name, I call it loud I see your face in every crowd Jack-knife with a precious load Spills its guts all over the road Excuse me, I had to smile Lost my grip too for awhile Easy there, steady now Easy there, steady now

King Of Bohemia

Tuning: DADGBE (Drop D)
G/d 02003x G 5x003x
G/b x2003x Gmaj7 5x403x
Em 222000 D/f# 4x023x
G/d
D
Let me rock you in my arms
G/d
D
I'll hold you safe and small
G/d
A
G/b
D
A refugee from the seraphim
G/d
D
In your rich girl rags and all
Bm
A7sus4
Did your dreams die young?
G
D/f#
Were they too hard won?
Em
A7sus4
Gmaj7
Did you reach too high and fall?
Bm
A7sus4
And there is no rest
G
D/f#
For the ones God blessed
Em
D/f#
G
A7sus4
G/b
D
And he blessed you best of all Your eyes seem from a different face They've seen that much that soon Your cheek too cold, too pale to shine Like an old and waning moon And there is no peace No true release No secret place to crawl And there is no rest For the ones God blessed And he blessed you best of all If tears unshed could heal your heart If words unsaid could sway Then watch you melt into the night With Adieu, and rue the day Did your dreams die young? Were they too hard won? Did you reach too high and fall? And there is no rest For the ones God blessed And he blessed you best of all

Shane And Dixie

A
Oh Shane and Dixie, they were two-bit crooks They wanted to be famous like you read in books
E
Shane had the brain and Dixie had the looks for glory
A
As a bank robber Shane really was no use He'd end up likely at the end of the noose
E
Which was fine by Shane if the papers could use the story
D
A
E
Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
D
A
E
Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die
A
Never die, never die Well Shane says to Dixie "We're getting nowhere I've a fine idea if you love me, swear We'll be household names if we only dare, forever Here's two bullets in my old carbine One is yours and the other is mine They'll find us there at the scene of the crime together" Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die Never die, never die
F#m
A
F#m
A
Well she screams, she swears, she tears her hair
F#m
B7
G
E
Saying "Shane, this time you've lost your mind" Shane took aim with the sixteen bore Dixie lay dying down there on the floor Shane was shaken but his purpose was more inspired Shane says "Lord, what have I done But this victory is only halfway won" He put the barrel underneath his tongue and fired Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die Never die, never die They found the bodies when the neighbours complained Shane was all over the walls like paint Dixie looked bad but her heart beat faint but surely Well they saved her life, they were just in time She turned her back on a life of crime And she married the man who came to type out her story The News of the Screws most generously gave The money helped to pay for Shane's new grave It looked so fine till the vandals sprayed it over And time took its toll and the weeds grew high It hid Shane's grave from the curious eye Or maybe that's why we forget those lines he told us Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die Fame and love, fame and love, fame and love will never die Never die, never die

Mingus Eyes

Tuning: CGDGBE (Drop C/g)
Capo:
IV
Gm7 x00331 Ab x1111x
Bb x3333x Gadd9 x00203
C 0x2013 Dm 22323x
Eb 335xxx
Gm7
What a fool I was
Bb
Gm7
What a thin disguise
C
Eb
Brando mumble
Ab
Gm7
Mingus eyes Was a time she fell But then she got wise Brando mumble Mingus eyes
Bb
Gadd9
I never had the squint of James Dean
Bb
Gadd9
Or the Stanislavsky tears
Bb
Gadd9
Or the rebel hunch that kills
Eb
Dm
Or the smile that slowly disappears What a fool I was What a thin disguise Brando mumble Mingus eyes Brando mumble Mingus eyes

I Ride In Your Slipstream

C
Em
I ride in your slipstream I wear your reflection I echo your heartbeat
F#m
Am
Em
In the wind You might say we're lovers You might say we're strangers You think you don't know me But you're wearing my ring
Am
Em
Good dream, bad dream, just don't mean a thing
Am
Em
Good road, bad road, just don't mean a thing
D
F#m
B
C
D
Down in the while of the wheels, you'll hear me sing
Instrumental verse
I'm like a TV eye in the sky but I'm right behind you I'm like your signed confession but I'm right behind you I'm like the child you never were but I'm right behind you Let's ride I ride in your slipstream But don't try to touch me Just trust me to love you I love you I ride in your slipstream I ride in your slipstream I ride in your slipstream
F#
Am
Em

Beeswing

Tuning: DADGBE (Drop D)
Capo:
III
Gmaj7 504000
D/f# 400230
Em 222000
A
G
/f#
Em
A
Bm
G
||-0-2-0-0-----|-------------|-------------|-0---0-2-----||----|--
|*---------3-0-|-0-----------|-0-----0-2-3-|---3---------*|-0--|--
||-2-----------|-----0-----0-|-------------|-2---------4-||----|--
||-------------|---0-----0---|-----2-------|---------4---||----|--
|*-0-----0-----|-------------|---2---------|-0-----2-----*|----|--
||-------------|-5-----4-----|-2-----2-----|-------------||-5--|--
D
G/b
D
I was nineteen when I came to town
D
G/b
D
They called it the summer of love
D
G/b
D
/c#
/b
They were burning babies, burning flags
A
G
The hawks against the doves I took a job in the steamie Down on Caldrum Street And I fell in love with a laundry girl Who was working next to me
Bm
A
D
She was a rare thing, fine as a beeswing
Bm
A
G
A
G
Gmaj7
So fine a breath of wind might blow her away
Bm
A
D
She was a lost child, she was running wild
Bm
A
G
A
G
D/f#
She said, as long as there's no price on love I'll stay
Em
D/f#
G
A
G
D
And you wouldn't want me any other way Brown hair zigzag round her face And a look of half surprise Like a fox caught in the headlights There was animal in her eyes She said young man, oh can't you see I'm not the factory kind If you don't take me out of here I'll surely lose my mind She was a rare thing, fine as a beeswing So fine that I might crush her where she lay She was a lost child, she was running wild She said, as long as there's no price on love I'll stay And you wouldn't want me any other way We busked around the market towns And picked fruit down in Kent And we could tinker lamps and pots And knives wherever we went And I said that we might settle down Get a few acres dug Fire burning in the hearth And babies on the rug She said oh man, you foolish man That surely sounds like hell You might be Lord of half the world You'll not own me as well She was a rare thing, fine as a beeswing So fine a breath of wind might blow her away She was a lost child, she was running wild She said, as long as there's no price on love I'll stay And you wouldn't want me any other way We was camping down the Gower one time The work was pretty good She thought we shouldn't wait for the frost And I thought maybe we should We were drinking more in those days And tempers reached a pitch Like a fool I let her run With the rambling itch And the last I hear she's sleeping out Back on the Darby beat White horse in her hip pocket And a wolfhound at her feet And they say she even married once A man named Romany Brown But even a gypsy caravan Was too much settling down And they say her flower is faded now Hard weather and hard booze But maybe that's just the price you pay For the chains you refuse She was a rare thing, fine as a beeswing So fine that I might crush her where she lay And I miss her more than words could ever say If I could just taste, all of her wildness now If I could hold her in my arms today Then I wouldn't want her any other way

Mascara Tears

G
When I said those things I was out of my mind I was trying to be mean and cruel and unkind
D
G
D
G
Don't take it to heart
C
There's another man inside me wants to break us apart
G
You were chic, off the peg, bang up to the minute I had to put my big foot in it
D
G
D
G
Don't shout it all about
C
A7
There's another man inside me and he wants to get out
Em
Bm7
Oh mascara tears, bitter and black
A
Spent bullet drilled a hole in my back
G
D
Salt for the memory, black for the years
Am
Em
Black is forever, mascara tears There's hell and hoodoo in your kitchen You've got to scratch the place you're itching How long will it take There's another girl inside you and she never got a break Oh mascara tears, bitter and black Spent bullet drilled a hole in my back Salt for the memory, black for the years Black is forever, mascara tears
G
You just moan and weep and moan and weep
B7
And moan and weep and moan and weep
C
Dirty rivers running down your face
A7
Tears all down your party lace Oh mascara tears, bitter and black Spent bullet drilled a hole in my back Salt for the memory, black for the years Black is forever, mascara tears

Taking My Business Elsewhere

If she's not here by now Then I guess she's not coming If she's not here by now Then I guess she don't care Waiter, I won't waste your time anymore You've already started to sweep down the floor I guess she's not coming, I'll head for the door I'll be taking my business elsewhere It wasn't for me That spark in her eyes It wasn't for me That halo in her hair When she touched me a lump rose up in my throat But she must act that way with any old soak And waiter, you don't seem to share in the joke So I'll be taking my business elsewhere She called me her fantasy And boldly she kissed me I'll never get over The sheer surprise Of her acting that way And I'm healing OK But for the eyes of her Oh, it's cold in the rain And it's dark and it's sad And I'll miss her tonight On my lonely back stair I'm sorry I took up so much of your space I'll move down the street to a friendlier place 'Cause I guess she's not coming and you're sick of my face I'll be taking my business elsewhere