FOR MUSICIANS
-- Tabs, Chords & Tunings: When You Give It Away --
Transcribed by Steve Meger

Tabs Index


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,.


INTRODUCING THIS TAB

When You Give It Away is transcribed from the Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu album.



TUNING & CHORDS

Drop D tuning  (low DADGBE high)

 D       000232
 Bm      x24432
 D+9sus  xx0030
 A       x0222x
 G5      550033


MAIN RIFF

  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)
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

Down in Kaldi's café the newspaper headlines promised new revelations
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


CHORUS

  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-way
Languid mandala of the ceiling fan
teases the air like a slow stroking hand
study the faces, study the cards
study the shadow creeping over the yard

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


ENDING

  D
  ,   .   ,   .   ,   .   ,   . 
||----------------------------2--||
||--------3-------------------3--|
||--------2-------------------2--|
||--------0-------------------0--|
||------------------------0---0--|
||0---------------5-----------0--|



Tabs Index

This page is part of The Cockburn Project, a unique website that exists to document the work of Canadian singer-songwriter and musician Bruce Cockburn. The Project archives self-commentary by Cockburn on his songs and music, and supplements this core part of the website with news, tour dates, and other current information.