Peter Hammill - Sharply Unclear (chords and tabs)


From: ofirz@eng.tau.ac.il (Zwebner Ofir)
Date: 4 Mar 1996 09:37:40 GMT

The song is generally in slow 3/4 meter, but notice that 4/4 on that crucial C chord.

Sharply Unclear (from Roaring Forties, 1994)

  Intro:
  Dm
e:---------1--------|---------1--------|---------1--------|---------1--------|
B:------3-----3-----|------3-----3-----|------3-----3-----|------3-----3-----|
G:---2-----------2--|---2-----------2--|---2-----------2--|---2-----------2--|
D:0-----------------|------------------|0-----------------|------------------|
A:------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
E:------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|


   Dm                                                Bbsus2
e:-------------1-----------|------------1-----------|------------------------|
B:*--------3-------3-------|--------3-------3-------|------------1-----------|
G:-----2---------------2---|----2---------------2---|--------3-------3-------|
D:-0-----------------------|------------------------|----3---------------3---|
A:*------------------------|------------------------|1-----------------------|
E:-------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
  1: You've never shown a trace of human trailty,    no-one could ever catch
  2: Each post-modern take on the action would find you already, in principle,

                     1,2 -+- 3
              C           |Dm
e:------------------------|------------1-----------|------------1-----------|
B:-----------------------*|--------3-------3-------|--------3-------3-------|
G:--------3-----------0---|----2---------------2---|----2---------------2---|
D:----3-----------2-------|0-----------------------|0-----------------------|
A:1-----------3----------*|------------------------|------------------------|
E:------------------------|------------------------|------------------------|
  you on the hop:          All self-referential commentary
  totally hot,

  Bbsus2                               Am
e:------------------------|------------------------|
B:------------1-----------|------------------------|
G:--------3-------3-------|--------3-----------2---|
D:----3---------------3---|----3-----------2-------|
A:1-----------------------|1-----------0-----------|
E:------------------------|------------------------|
  And a marketing men's    sens of talk shop.

  Gsus2                                 C (4/4!!!)
e:------------------|------------------|------------------------|
B:------------------|------------------|---------1--------------|
G:------0--2--0-----|------0--2--0-----|------0-----0-----------|
D:---0-----------0--|---0-----------0--|---2-----------2-----3--|
A:------------------|------------------|3-----------------3-----|
E:3-----------------|3-----------------|------------------------|
  The sharper the image you cut         the more you seem unreal;
  
  Gsus2                                 C
e:------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
B:------------------|------------------|---------1--------|------------------|
G:------0--2--0-----|------0--2--0-----|------0-----0-----|- ...PAUSE... ----|
D:---0-----------0--|---0-----------0--|---2-----------2--|------------------|
A:------------------|------------------|3-----------------|3-----------------|
E:3-----------------|3-----------------|------------------|------------------|
  So sharp you could cut yourself,      Transparently ideal

[Return back to intro]

We all know that hard-boiled look,
You cooked it up to face down the stares;
I feel like I'm walking on eggshells around you,
As though you're already no longer quite there,
You acknowledge your trauma,
Your neurosis is stripped and laid bare.

The sharper the image you cut
The more you disappear;
So sharp you could cut yourself,
Somehow this transparency's unclear.

[Strange Violin solo over Dm, then over the intro and then 3 times over
the main verse, Peter anguishly shouting moralizing themes. Skip it.] 

All the mirrors in your playroom,
They twist your psycho-epidermis into shape.
No doubt you emerged in your make-up believing
Quite simply, believing that you'd got it taped
But the vacancy you offered
Is already a Cheshire Cat gape.

[Go on playing the Gsus2-C riff with the 4/4 C section.]

The sharper the image you cut
The more you disappeared;
So sharp you could cut yourself-
Are you still really here?
And the shaper the image you cut
The more you seemed a fake
So sharp you could cut yourself,
Transparently opaque....
And the sharper the image you cut
The less you seemed alive,
So sharp, but this open book's
Transparently jive.

You were so sharp you cut yourself,
So sharp you could cut yourself,
You were so sharp you made yourself transparent
And transparently unclear.

TAB transcriptions in this file were made using TAB MASTER, my own TAB editor.

Your Correction, comments, requests etc:

        Ofir Zwebner, Eng.
        An Officer, Musician, Filmgoer and Continent Discoverer
        e-mail: ofirz@ayalon.eng.tau.ac.il
        @-mail: Ehoud 10, Tel Aviv, 69936, Israel




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