Tallahassee Lyrics

Tallahassee (2002)
The Mountain Goats
All songs written by John Darnielle
1. Tallahassee
Chords:
G (355433) or (320033)
(The G chord sounds like a barre chord mostly, but open sounds right sometimes)
Bassline (repeated throughout)
Intro:
Window facing an ill-kept front yard
Plums on the tree, heavy with nectar
Prayers to summon the destroying angels
Moon stuttering in the sky like film stuck in a projector
And you
D (1 extra measure)
You-oo-oo-oo-oo
Post-verse:
Twin prop airplanes passing loudly overhead
Road to the airport, two lanes clear
Half the whole town, gone for the summer
Terrible silence, coming down here
And you
D (1 extra measure)
You-oo-oo-oo-oo
(Post-verse)
There is no deadline,
There is no schedule
There is no plan we can fall back on
The road this far can't be retraced
There is no punchline
Anybody can tack on
There are loose ends by the score
What did I come down here for?
You
D (1 extra measure)
You-oo-oo-oo-oo
(Post-verse)
End with bassline.
(1)Not so sure about that one A chord (D maybe?), but I like it so I use it.
(2)Sometimes (particularly at the end) he arpeggiates the chords:
Or something to that effect.
(3)Also, toward the first half of the song, he likes to let the F# (xxxxx2)
ring out sometimes.
Just play around with it.
2. First Few Desperate Hours
Chords:
F# (244300)
Intro:
E F# Asus2 x2
Bad luck comes in from Tampa
Bad luck comes in from Tampa
On the back of a truck
Doing 90 up the interstate
We have bad dreams the night he rolls in
We have bad dreams the night he rolls in
And we try
To keep our spirits high
But they flag
And they wave
When the truck pulls up out front
In the light spring rain
And they sag like whithering flowers
Let the good times roll -- on --
Through these first few desperate hours
Yeah
E F# Asus2 x4
The driver drops his cargo at the curb
The driver drops his cargo at the curb
And the sun peeks in
Like a killer through the curtain
And when cloven hoofprints turn up in the garden
And when cloven hoofprints turn up in the garden
We keep up the good fight
And keep our spirits light
But they draw
Like flies
And there's a stomach-turning shift
In the way the land lies
And they lean
Like towers
On a hillside struggling to stand
Through these first few desperate hours
Yeah
E F# Asus2 x4
End on E.
(1)The rhythm is tricky, it should take some time to get down but it's not terribly difficult.
(2)The theory name for that F# chord would be something like F#7sus4, but that's a pain
to write.
3. Southwood Plantation Roads
Chords:
Bassline:
Intro:
I've got you
You've got whatever's left of me to get
Our conversations are like minefields
No one's found a safe way through one yet
I spend a lot of money
I buy ya white gold
We raise up a little roof
Against the cold
On Southwood Plantation Road
Where at night the stars blow like milk across the sky
Where the high wires drop
Where the fat crows fly
All night long
You giggle and scream
Your brown eyes
Deeper than a dream
I am not gonna lose you
We are gonna stay married
In this house like a Louisiana graveyard
Where nothing stays buried
On Southwood Plantation Road
Where the dead will walk again
Put on their sunday best
And mingle with unsuspecting Christian men
La-la-la-la-la
End on A.
The Dm is quick, about half a normal measure. Listen for it.
4. Game Shows Touch Our Lives
Chords:
Intro:
Dug up a fifth of Hood River gin and
That stuff tastes like medicine
But I'll take it, it'll do
On the couch in the living room all day long
Music on the television playing our song
I'm in the mood, the mood for you
Turn the volume up real high
And all of that money, look at it fly
And you smoking, like a chimney
Shadows crawled across the living room's length
I held onto you with a desperate strength
With everything, with everything in me
And I handed you a drink of the lovely little thing
On which our survival depends
People say friends don't destroy one another,
What do they know about friends?
Thunderclouds forming, cream white moons
Everything's gonna be okay soon
Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day
Carried you up the stairs that night
All of this could be yours, if the price is right
I heard cars heading down to oblivion,
Up on the expressway
Your drunken kiss is as light as the air
Maybe everything that falls down eventually rises
Our home sinking into disrepair,
Ah, but look at this showroom
Filled with fabulous prizes
End on G.
Emphasize the high notes (xxxx33) during the G, C9 and F9 chords.
5. The House That Dripped Blood
Play the chords like this:
E (022100) strummed normally
Intro:
Look beyond the broken bottles
Past the rotting wooden stairs
Root out the wine-dark honeyed center
Not everyone can live like millionaires
Look through the air-thinned walls
Tear up the floorboards, strip the paint
Go over every inch of space
With the patience of a saint
Grab your hat, get your coat
The cellar door,
Is an open throat
Look past the kitchen cabinets
Go through the chest of drawers
Scrutinize the casements
Rip the varnish off the doors
Dig up the laughing photographs
They're here somewhere or other
Take what you can carry
But let me tell your brother
Still waters go stagnant, bodies bloat
The cellar door,
Is an open throat
B D A B x4 with harmonica solo
Last time strike A 3 times slowly, and end on B.
6. Idylls of the King
Chords:
G-D:
Intro:
us4
This place
With its old plantations
These roads leading out to the sea
This day,
Full of promise and potential
More clay pidgeons for you and me
(Chorus)
Oh all of them, all of them
All of them, all of them
All of them, all of them, all of them,
All of them all lined up
Huge crows
Loitering by the curb
Our shared pasts, unravelling behind us like ribbons
And I dreamed of vultures
In the trees behind our house
And cicadas and locusts, and the shrieking of innummerable gibbons
(Chorus)
us4
How long must we ride this way about?
How long 'til someone caves under the pressure?
My dreams are haunted by armies, armies of ghosts
Faces to blurry to make out,
Numbers far too high to measure
Your face,
Like a vision straight out of Holly Hobby
Late light, drizzling through your hair
Your eyes,
Twin volcanoes
Bad ideas, dancing around in there
(Chorus)
End on D.
(1)I didn't go to too much trouble here, because others have already done that.
I'm sure you can find a more specific tab somewhere.
(2)Also, when the G-D bridges two words, that means the first word falls on the G and
the second on the D.
When it is above the word "and" in the 2nd verse, the word "cicadas" falls on G and
"locusts" on D.
7. No Children
Chords (relative to capo):
Intro:
C#m F# C#m F# D E A Asus*
I hope that our few remaining friends
Give up on trying to save us
I hope we come up with a failsafe plot
To piss off the dumb few who forgave us
I hope the fences we mended
Fall down beneath their own weight
And I hope we hang on past the last exit
I hope it's already too late
And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here
Someday burns down
And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away,
And I never come back to this town again
In my life,
I hope I lie
And tell everyone you were a good wife
And I hope you die
I hope we both die
C#m F# C#m F# D E A Asus*
I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow
I hope it bleeds all day long
Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises
Well, we're pretty sure they're all wrong
I hope it stays dark forever,
I hope the worst isn't over
And I hope that you blink before I do
I hope I never get sober
And I hope when you think of me years down the line
You can't find one good thing to say
And I hope that if I found the strength to walk out
You'd stay the hell out of my way
I am drowning
There is no sign of land
You are coming down with me
Hand in unlovable hand
And I hope you die
I hope we both die
C#m F# C#m F# D E A Asus* x4
End on A.
*the Asus chord isn't necessarily in there, but it helps to fill time on that A.
8. See America Right
Chords:
Riff:
I was
Driving into tampa, when the radiator burst,
I was three sheets to the wind, a civilian saw me first
And then there was the cop, and then the children
Standing on the corner
Your love is like a cyclone in a swamp and the weather's getting warmer
(mute strums)
I was
Getting out of jail, heading to the greyhound
You said you'd hop on one yourself, and meet me on the way down
I was shaking way too hard to think,
Dead on my feet about to drop
Went and got the case of vodka from the car
And walked the two miles to the bus stop
(Instrumental verse)
Strummed chords over riff:
Got
On the bus half drunk again, the driver glared at me
Met up with you in Inglis, thumbed a ride to Cedar Key
If we never make it back to California,
I want you to know I love ya
But my love is like a black cloud full 'o rain
That's always right there up above ya
End abruptly on Em.
The song starts cold with vocals before any instruments come in.
Other than that, it's pretty much completely straight forward.
9. Peacocks
Chords:
Intro:
aj7
Guitar 1:
Guitar 2:
These two are simultaneous.
Listen to the record and you'll hear it.
Abridged riff:
"Fear for my safety...":
"...rise."
Abridged riff 2:
Outro: (same feel as intro)
(Intro)
I hear them squeal
I see them preen
Fans all spread out
Neat and clean
(Abridged riff)
Grab hold of the morning
Head out to the porch
Feel the wind stopping
Feel the sun scorch
Fear for my safety,
You can see it in my eyes
In an hour or two
We will rise...
(Intro)
Then a sharp breeze kicks up,
I hug myself hard
How come there's peacocks
In the front yard?
(Abridged riff 2)
Sun's all prickly
On my neck
When the helicopter passes
We both hit the deck
Hands grasping and groping
Seizing opportunity right where it lies
The sky will fall
We will rise...
(Abridged riff)
(Outro)
(Intro - just guitar 2)
End on C.
10. International Small Arms Traffic Blues
Chords:
A/G# (4x2220)
Intro:
|_____________________| |_____________________|
Main riff Variation 1
Variation 2
Variation 3 (strumming)
(Intro)
My love is like a powder keg
(Main riff)
My love is like a powder keg in the corner
Of an empty warehouse
Outside of town
About to burn down
(Main riff x2)
My love is like a Cuban plane
(Main riff)
My love is like a Cuban plane
Flying from Havana
Up the Florida Coast to the 'Glades
Soviet-made
(Main riff x2)
(Variation 2)
(Main riff)
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
(Variation 3)
Our love is like the border between Greece and Albania
Trucks loaded down with weapons
Crossing over every night
Moon yellow and bright...
There is a shortage in the blood supply
But there is no shortage of blood
The way I feel 'bout you, baby, can't explain it
You got the best of my love
(Variation 3 x4)
End on E.
(1)During the closing Variation 3 cycle, play with gradually more abandon.
(2)Between repetitions of the main riff or any of its variations,
there are a few beats of just low E or (0221xx) strumming, but you don't really need it.
11. Have to Explode
Chords:
D/F# (2x023x)
A/C# (x42220)
Intro:
D/F# A/C# B/G G x4
Tile floor of the bathroom
Scrubbed clean and bright
Checkerboard wh--i--te and grey
Towels from the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Kingston, Jamaica
I can still see the rust-colored stains today
The stage is set
Somebody's gonna do something someone else will regret
I speak in smoke signals and you answer in code
The fuse will have to run out sometime
Something here will eventually have to explode
Have to explode
You and me lying on the tile floor
Trying to keep cool, restless all night
Sweating out the poison as the temperature climbs
Staring up, up, at the hundred-watt light
That burns above
Name one thing about us two anyone could love
We roll out the red carpet
When rotten luck comes down the road
Five, four, three, two, one, watch for the flash
Something here will eventually have to explode
D (2 extra measures)
Have to explode
D/F# A/C# B/G G x5
End on G.
He doesn't have the B/G every time, sometimes he just does 2 measures of G.
It's a lot of work to figure out where they all go, so just use your discretion.
It works either way.
12. Old College Try
Chords:
Intro:
From the housetops to the gutters,
From the ocean to the shore
The warning signs have all been bright and garish
Far too great in number to ignore
From the cities to the swamplands,
From the highways to the hills
Our love has never had a leg to stand on,
From the asprins to the cross-tops to the Elevils
But I will walk
Down to the end
With you
If you will come all the way down
With me
From the entrance to the exit
Is further than it looks from where we stand
I wanna say I'm sorry for stuff I haven't done yet
Things will quickly get completely out of hand
I can feel it in the rotten air tonight
In the tips of my fingers, in the skin on my face
In the last gasp of the evening's dying light
In the way those eyes I've always loved
Illuminate this place
Like a trash-can fire in a prison cell
Like the searchlights in the parking lots of hell
I will walk
Down to the end
With you
If you will come all the way down
With me
End on A.
13. Oceanographer's Choice
Chords:
Well
Guy in a skeleton costume
Runs up to the guy
In the superman suit
Runs through him with a broadsword
I flipped the television off
Bring all the bright lights up
Turn the radio up loud
I don't know why I'm so persuaded
That if I think things through
Long enough and hard enough
I'll somehow get to you
But then you came in, and we locked eyes
You kicked the ashtray over as we came toward each other
Stubbed my cigarette out against the west wall
And quickly lit another
Look at that! Would ya look at that?
We're throwing off sparks
What'll I do when I don't have you
To hold onto in the dark?
Yes
Everybody's gonna need a witness
Everybody's gonna need a little back-up
In case the scene gets nasty
You throw the attic window open
And I throw my arms all around you
And night comes to Tallahassee
I don't know why it's gotten harder
To keep myself away
Thought I'd finally beat the feeling back
It all came back today
Look at that! Would ya look at that?
The way the ceiling starts to swerve
What'll I do when I don't have you?
When I finally get what I deserve?
(instrumental verse ad nauseum)
End on Em.
though it sounds more like E in the first verse and Em later.
14. Alpha Rats Nest
Can be played in either standard or Drop D (to incorporate bassline)
Chords:
Standard Drop D
Bassline (for Drop D guitar):
G D _
Intro: Main riff x3 Em C G D D7
All the lengthening hours in the refinery
Belching fire into the sky
We do our best vampire routines
As we suck the dying hours dry
The night is lovely as a rose
(Main riff x2)
If I see sunlight in you I am
sure that we'll both decompose
(Intro)
All the fitful sleep and the fire engines
That I dream of when I dream
Someday we'll both wake up for good
I will try hard not to scream
The evening wind will shake the blind
(Main riff x2)
You're stirring from your slumber we've got
Something hateful on our minds
Oh sing, sing, sing,
For the dying of the day
Sing for the flames that will rip through here
And the smoke that will carry us away
Oh sing for the damage we've done
And the worse things that we'll do
Open your mouth up and sing for me now
And I will sing for you
(Intro x3)
When you get to the last D7 chord, let it ring and hit that low D just once.
so the octaves aren't right for the Drop D guitar.
On a bass guitar it looks like this:
That C note should be an octave lower than on the Drop D guitar.
(2)D's and D7's are largely interchangeable here.
I've noted when I noticed a difference but it's a matter of taste.
There it is. Enjoy.