Disclaimer: The following tab is intended for private enjoyment and educational purposes and should not be read as an encouragement for members of the general public to play the song live. The lyrics and music of "When You Give It Away" are the intellectual property of Bruce Cockburn, his management, and record companies, etc,.
When You Give It Away is transcribed from the Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu album.
Drop D tuning (low DADGBE high) D 000232 Bm x24432 D+9sus xx0030 A x0222x G5 550033
D (use little finger to fret 5th fret on low D string) , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . ||--------2----------------------|2---2---2-------------------2---|| ||--------3----------------------|3---3---3-------------------3---|| ||--------2----------------------|2---2---2-------------------2---|| ||--------0----------------------|0---0---0-------------------0---|| ||------------------------0------|0-----------------------0-------|| ||0---------------5--------------|0---------------5---------------|| (repeat)
(spoken)
Down in Kaldi's café the newspaper headlines promised new revelations
Slid out of my dreams like a baby out of the nurse's hands
onto the hard floor of day
I'd been wearing OJ's gloves and I couldn't get them off
it was too early but I couldn't sleep
showered and dressed and stepped out into the heat
the parrot things on the porch next door announced my arrival on Chartres
Street
with their finest rendition of squealing brakes
about Prince Charles' Amex account
a morose youth in old-time Austrian drag stares past his mustache at the
ground
and last night's punks and fetish kids all tattoos and metal bits
and in the other corner (wearing the white trunks)
today's tourists already sweating
Verse:
Deep in the city of the saints and fools
pearls before pigs and dung become jewels
I sit down with tigers and sit down with lambs
none of them know who exactly I am
Bm , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . |--------2---------------2------|--------------------------------| |--------3---------------3------|--------3-----------------------| |--------4---------------4------|--------4-----------------------| |--------4---------------4------|--------4-----------------------| |2-----------2---2-----------2--|2-----------2---2-------4-------| |-------------------------------|--------------------------------| I've got this thing in my heart I must give it to- D D+9sus , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . |---------------------------(2)-|2---2---2-------0---------------| |--------3------------------(3)-|3---3---3-------3-------3-------| |--------2------------------(2)-|2---2---2---------------0-------| |--------0----------------------|0-------------------------------| |------------------------0------|--------------------------------| |0---------------5--------------|--------------------------------| -day A G5 , . , . , . , . , . , . , . , . |-------------------------------|3-------3-----------------------| |--------2-------2-------2---x--|3-------3-----------------------| |--------2-------2-------2---x--|0-------0-----------------------| |--------2-------2-------2---x--|0-------0-----------------------| |0------------------------------|5------(5)----------------------| |-------------------------------|5------(5)----------------------| It only lives when you give it a-wayLanguid mandala of the ceiling fan
Chorus
Guitar solo in D major pentatonic, with distortion and heavy phasing
Trouble with nations, trouble with relations
where you gonna go for some illumination?
too much to carry too much to let go
time goes fast, learning goes slow
Chorus (twice)
give it away
D , . , . , . , . ||----------------------------2--|| ||--------3-------------------3--| ||--------2-------------------2--| ||--------0-------------------0--| ||------------------------0---0--| ||0---------------5-----------0--|