From: "Pushing E. Thirty" Subject: in camera Date: Mon, 19 Jul 1999 09:22:34 GMT
Note: this song was rarely played by PH live, though one very memorable version is to be found on the Peel Sessions CD compilation - Hammill changed much of the playing on that live version, partly because he probably couldn't play all the various instruments which made the backing tracks of the original version on the piano, and partly as some of the chords playing in the album version is a bit too complicated to be repeated live. Thus, what follows is only the skeleton of the song. You should seek your individual way through it on your own.
Some of the irregular chords are:
C#, F#, G#, F# (bass: F#)= F#^
D, F#, G#, F# (bass: D) = D^
E, F#, G#, F# (bass: E) = E^
B, F#, G#, F# (bass: B) = B^
Intro: F#^ (x4) D^ (x4) E^ (x4) F#^
Verse 1a:
F#^ D^
In my youth, I played at trains:
E^ B^ (chord ends on G#)
now all steam is gone.
F#^ D^ E^
In my dreams, brief shelter from the rain,
F#2/D#, F#2/D, F#/C#, bass: G#, C, A#
I try to catch the fireglow...
Verse 2a:
Bbm Bbm, Cm
with Dinky Toys, I thought that I was Stirling;
Fm Fm, Em
with cricket bat, I saw myself as Peter May;
Ebm
now, with all these images returning,
Dm Dbm F#m/C#,
I wonder who I am today?
Interlude: single notes: A, G#, G, F#, F, F#, G, G#, A (x2)
Verse 1b:
F#m D
As a child, I refought the war,
E F#m C#
with plastic planes and imagination:
F# (bass: G# F#) D
I sank Tirpitz, blew up the Mohne dam, all these and more,
E F#2/C#, C#, bass: F#, G#, A#
I was the saviour of the Nation!
Verse 2b:
Bbm
Oh! To be the captain of a ship of war!
Fm Em
The pilot of a Tempest or a York!
Ebm
To hold my trench against the Panzer Korps,
Dm Dbm
instead of simply being one
F#2/C# single notes: A, G#, G, F#, F, F#, G, G#, A (x2)
who ta - - - - - - - - lks,
Eb Bb
and reminisces of his fantasies,
D2 A/C#
as though life was nothing but to lose...
F#/C# G#/D# A/E F#
these only antecede the knowledge that, eventually,
Bm
he must choose....
Verse 3:
Bm A Bm
It's a hallmark of adullthood
A F#m
that our options diminish
E
as our faculties for choice increase,
D C#m
till we choose everything and nothing,
Bm
too late, at the finish.
Interlude: Bm E/B (F#m) F#m/C# ; F#m/C#, E/B, D/A
C#m, Bm ; D, C#m, B ;
B, C#m, D ; D, Fm, F#m
Verse 1c:
In my youth, I held belief: my faith and thought were strong.
But now I'm stripped of every leaf, and it robs me
of the sight of right and wrong.
Oh! To be the son of Che Guevara!
One unit in the serried ranks of black!
A Papist or an Orangeman, a eunuch...
then doubt would never cast the dagger in my back.
Interlude: F#m/C#, C#, F#^, D^, E^, bass: F#, G#, A#
Verse 2c:
Oh! To be King John or Douglas Bader,
Humphrey Bogart or Victor Mature!
Which one is false and easy,
which one harder?
Of that, of this, of me
D C#m, B, D, C#m, B, D, C#m, C#
I'm really not too sure.