VdGG - A Plague Of Lighthouse-Keepers (chords)


Chord transcription by Mikayel Abazyan mikayelabazyan@yahoo.com

Playing tips

The notes in { } show example of the patterns that is played during "Eyewitness" 
section of this composition. Those patterns are shown only for the first two lines 
though. Listening to the original will give you perfect idea on what was meant by 
me when I wrote it.


INTRO: { d  a-c-d } x4 (same pattern is used during "Eyewitness" portion of this composition)


(Eyewitness)

Dm          {a-c-d}                   d              {a-c-d}
  Still waiting     for  my  saviour,   storms tear me       limb from limb

C        {g-bb-d}                    c          {g-bb-d}                Dm
  my fingers      feel like seaweed.    I'm so far      out I'm too far    in.

Dm
  I am a lonely man, my solitude is true,

C                                                                  Dm
  my eyes have borne stark witness and now my nights are numbered,     too.


Am                       F    G            
I've seen the smiles on dead hands,

      Em                      C       Dm       
the stars shine, but they're not for me.


Dm
  I prophesy disaster and then I count the cost...

C                                                        Dm
  I shine but, shining, dying, I know that I am aDmlmost     lost.

Dm
  On the table lies blank paper and my tower is built on stone;

C                                                        Dm
  I only have blunt scissors, I only have the bluDmntest     home.


Am                             F       G      
I've been the witness and the seal of death

 Em                            C      Dm            
lingers in the molten wax that is my head.


Dm
  When you see the skeletons

    Bb
of sailing-ship spars sinking low

 Ab
You'll begin to wonder if the points of all the ancients myths

     G                             Dm
are solemnly directed straight at you...


(Pictures/Lighthouse)


(Eyewitness)

Dm
  No time now for contrition, the time for that's long past,

C                                                             Dm
  the walls are thin as tissue and if I talk I'll crack the glass.


 Am                        F          G        
So I only think on how it might have been,

 Em                             C        Am        
locked in silent monologue, in silent scream.


Dm
  I am much too tired to speak

    Bb
and as the waves crash on the bleak

  Ab
stones of the tower I start to freak

     G                  Dm
and find that I am overcome....


(S.H.M.)

G                                    C    G                               C
  "Unreal, unreal" ghost helmsmen scream     and fall in through the sky,

G                                    C    G
  not breaking through my seagull shrieks - no breaks until I die.


Am
  The spectres scratch on window-slits,

Bm
  the hollowed faces and mindless grins

     C                  Bm                  Am     Ab    G     F#     G    
are only intent on destroying what they've lost.


G                                 C     G                    C
  I crawl the wall till steepness ends      in the vertical fall;

G                              C   G                      C
  my pain has sailed into the sea  -  no joking hopes at dawn.


Am
  White bone shine in the iron-jaw mask,

Bm
  lost mastheads pierce the freezing dark

     C          G/B       Am                   
and parallel my isolated tower...

    G        F        E           Em
no paraffin for the flame,

    Dm      C       Bm    Am
no harbour left to gain.


(Presence of the night)

  Am                      Fmaj7 (or Am/F or Am6 call it what you want)
---------------------------------------|
---1----------------------1------------|
---2----------------------2------------|
---2----------------------2------------|
-0-----------------2----------------0--|
---------------------3----1-----0h1----|


Am                    [B    G]  Fmaj7    [E F A]
  'Alone, alone' the ghosts all call,

Am           [B    G] Fmaj7  [E F A]
  pinpoint me in the light.

Am             [B   G]    Fmaj7   [E F A]
  The only life I feel at all

Am                    [B  G] Fmaj7  [E F A]
  is the presence of the night.


Am   [B G] Fmaj7  [E F A]   repeated
[E F G] Am
[E F G] Am


[N.C.]
Would you cry if I died?

  G   Em Dm  Em Dm     Am  Am  Em    Am  Em
-------6-5----6-5---| ------8---7-----8--7--|
-------8-6----8-6---| ------10--8-----10-8--|
-------7-7----7-7---| ------9---9-----9--9--|
--5-----------------| ----------------------|
--------------------| --0-------------------|
--------------------| ----------------------|


G        Em  Dm        Em    Dm
  Would you catch the final words of mine?

G        Em  Dm    Em Dm
  Would you catch my words?


Am    Am   Em          Am Em
  I know that there's no time,

Am    Am   Em         Am   Em
  I know that there's no rhyme,

false signs find me.

(You don't have to play it this way, I just thought it would be fun.)

  Am        Em/B      Am/C     Em/D       Am/E     Em F

----8---------7---------8--------7----------8--------7------|
------10--------8---------10-------8----------10-------8----|
------------------9------------------9-------------------9--|
-------------------------------0----------------------------|
--0---------------------------------------7--------8--------|
------------7---------8-------------------------------------|

  C             G            Am            
--8-----8-------7-----7------5--|
----10----10------8-----8----5--|
-------9-----8------9-----9--5--|
-----------------------------7--|
--0-----0--------------------0--|
----------------0-----0---------|


Am         Em          Am        Em
  I don't want to hate,  I just want to grow;

Am          Em        C                           
  why can't I let me live and be free?

          G                Am                  
...but I die very slowly alone.


Am        Em           Am      Em
  I know no more ways,   I am so afraid,

Am        Em           C                          
  myself won't let me just be myself

       G                  Am                   
and so I am completely alone.


(Kosmos tours)

Am
  The maelstrom of my memory

      Bm
is a vampire and it feeds on me;

       C               C/B               Am(+d)  (on guitar I play it 0 0 0 2 1 0)        Am
now, staggering madly, over the brink I fall.


((Custard's) Last stand)

C#  F#  F


C#            F#                 F     Bb    C    Bb
  Lighthouses   might house the key

C#           F#        F        F   F5(=F+c#)   F7(=F+d#)             
  but can I reach the door?

Bb                 Bbdim            A              Ddim C7
-----------------------------------------------------------|
----------6----------------5----------------5--------6--5--|
--------7---7------------6---6------------6---6------4--3--|
------8-------8--------5-------5--------7-------7----6--5--|
----8-----------8----7-----------7----7-----------7--5--3--|
--6----------------6----------------5----------------------|


C#           F#          F     Bb    C    Bb
  I want to walk on the sea

C#           F#             F           F   F5(=F+c#)   F7(=F+d#)      
  so that I may better find   a shore;

Bb            Bbdim   A             F
  but how can I ever keep my feet dry?

E7   A    A  A G F
I  scan the horizon,

E7  A    A    A G    F  Dm   C        Bm       
I  must keep my eyes on all parts of me.


C#         F#          F     Bb    C    Bb
  Looking back on the years

C#                     F#         F       C    C#    Eb
  it seems that I have   lost my way:

Bb                   Bbdim                A
  Like a dog in the night I have run to a manger,

                F         E
now I am the stranger I stay in.

C#    Eb      E
         Ah, well.


C#             F#          F     Bb    C    Bb
  All of the grief I have seen

C#                  F#          F       C    C#    Eb
  leaves me chasing   solitary peace;

Bb              Bbdim   A      F
  But I hold experience in my head.

E7   A    A    A   G  F
I'm too close to the light,.

E7  A      A   A  G   F
I  don't think I see right,

 Dm     C    Bm      
for I blind me.


(The clot thickens)

  C                    B      C  G
Where is the God that guides my hand?

 C                   B  C    F
How can the hands of others reach me?

  C                   B   C    G
When will I find what I grope for?

  C     B     C  F
Who is going to teach me?

C          Bbm         C        Bbm             
I am me / me are we / we can't see

C    Bbm B   B   B   B   B
any way  out of here.

  C           Bbm          C       Bbm          
Crashing sea, a trophied history:

C         Bbm  B   B  B                  
  chance has  lost   my Guinevere...

A A A  B A Ab B A Ab B A Eb

C C B C G   C C B C F   C C B C G   C C B C F

C Bbm C Bbm C Bbm B             

C Bbm C Bbm C Bbm B             

A A A  B A Ab B A Ab B A Eb

                                      d#-e-g   d-d#-g#   e-a    e  a#-a-g#  e-g
I don't want to be one wave in the wate-              -r

                           d d   c# d a      d d   c# a g#
but sea will drag me deep:

                             { d#-e-g   d-d#-g#   e-a    e  a#-a-g#  e-g } x4
one more haggard drowned man.

d#-e - g    d -d#-g#    e-a     e  a# -a -g#   e - g  d#-e-g   d-d#-g#   e-a    e  a#-a-g#  e-g
I can see the lemmings coming, but I know I'm just a man.

 d#-e -g   d - d#-g# e - a     e    a#-a -  g# e - g  d#-e-g   d-d#-g#   e-a    e  a#-a-g#  e-g
Do  I join or do  I founder? Which can is the best I may?


After that, instrumental bridge follows, during which the above theme is being interchanged with 
the following solo-like stuff.

e       c  b  c    e      c   d
c       d           c       d   c      d   c
d   f      d#  c       d  a#      c d f     c d f
c d d# f      c d# d    c d# e f     c c c
d#    e d#


(Land's end (Sineline))

Eb  Bb  F# Absus


Eb               Bb             F#               Ab
Oceans drifting sideways, I am pulled into the spell,

[Ab Bb]  Bb        [Bb C] C  Ab7/C   Bb7     Eb
 I      feel you around  me, I     know you well.

               Bb               F#                    Ab
Stars slice horizons where the lines stand much too stark;

[Ab Bb]  Bb        [Bb C] C      Ab7/C        Bb7     Eb
 I      feel I am dro - wning - hands stretch in the dark.


Bb   F#   Ab  [Ab Bb]  Bb        [Bb C] C

G#  Bb7 Bb7 C7  (F)


F                      C                 G#              Bb
  Camps of panoply and  majesty, what is    Freedom of Choice?

[Bb C]         C          [C D]   D    Bb7/D C7     F
  Where do I stand in the pageantry, whose   is my voice?

                         C       G#                           Bb
It doesn't feel so very bad now,     I think the end is the start,

[Bb C]       C         [C D] D   
   begin to feel very glad  now:

Bb7/D      C7     F
ALL THINGS ARE A PART 

Bb7        C7    F
ALL THINGS ARE APART

Bb7        C7     (F          C   G#  Bb)
ALL THINGS ARE A PART


(We go now)

F    C    G#   Bb     D   D      Bb    C       C    D       (G)

G    D    Bb   C      E   E      C     D       D    E       (A)

A    E    C    D      F#7 F#     D/f#  E/g#    E/g#   F#    (B)

B    F#   D    E      G#7 G#     E/g#  F#/a#   F#/a#  G#    (C#)

C#   G#   E    F#     G#   A#    F#/a# G#/c     G#/c  A#    (D#)

D#   A#   F#   G#     A#   C     G#/c  A#/d     A#/d  C      F   (maybe F(+b)?, or c-c#-e-f-a?)




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