Peter Hammill - Empire of Delight (chords)


Transcription by Brian Ritchie

[intro: Bbm F# F x 4? 6? with Bbm arpeggios on all but 1st two times]


    Bbm            F                 Bbm
Memory extends its empire, holds the frame

              F                 Dm               Gm
but blurs the line...some other time invades the sense,

         F#maj7                     Bbm <-> F  ["bounce between" these]
a moment caught and lost, second sight.


[same as above]

Suddenly I feel you near me worlds away and close as this;
one stolen kiss upon my lips and
the moment slips away in mid-flight.


[I transcribed the melody here because I thought my friend might have
trouble working it out for herself. It's not note-perfect, but is
close enough for me.

You'll need the original to work out things like octave leaps (eg from
"Just" down to "what" in the 2nd line. Well, if you don't like it, you
can delete it... or turn it into real notation...

The top line gives the chords, the second the melody.]

   F#    G#       Bb               Dm
F  F# C# G#    Eb Bb  Bb  A   Bb   A    G  F Eb
So many  years a- go, and now it's hard to recall

              Bb                     C#
Bb   Bb   C   D     Eb F    F     F# G#    F#  F Eb
just what you meant to me...still I  wait, I'm patient,

                              Bb
C#  Eb  F   C# Eb    C  Eb F# F  Eb  D
for the memory comes to me e- ventually.

         F#                              F
Bb   Bb  Bb   Eb  F      F#  G#  F    Eb F    [most dubious line; sounds OK]
Here you are, and though you may soon be gone

               G#6                    F#maj7
Bb  C   C#  Eb F    Bb    C     C# Eb F
somehow th- e  song still burns a- as bright:

              F           F# [or F#maj7]
Bb C    C# Bb A   Bb   A  Bb
I  felt it happen here to-night -

                          Bbm    [repeat intro]
Bb    G# F#  F  F#  C# Eb F
here, in the empire of de-light.


[same as 1st verse]

Dream and ghost the world around me,
you seem as real as ever you were...
but in a blur your breath on my cheek
has gone, and the evening come into night.


[all except one line of 2nd chorus is same as 1st, so I've only repeated
the chords on all but the altered line. And the melody's probably wrong
there anyway...]

   F#   G#     Bb               Dm
So many years ago, and now it's hard to recall

               Bb                   C#
quite what you meant to me; still I wait, impatient,

                                Bb
though the memory comes to me eventually.

        F#          G#
Bb   Bb Bb  Bb      C      C  C  Bb   C Bb Ab
Here I  am, forever caught up in this mystery

    F                   G#6                 F#maj7
Eb  F     Bb   C C# Eb  F    Bb  C    C# Eb F
and then, that mome-ent when the fire i- ignites -

           F            F#
I felt it happen here tonight -

                         Bbm    [repeat intro, then F# and this line again]
here, in the empire of delight.



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