Cave Nick – Henrys Dream Album tab

Subject: Nick cave - Henry's Dream - Chords
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 1995 10:54:37 +0100 (BST)
From: "Andy Field" 

The Chords to Henry's Dream (mute 1992) by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

Compiled as accurately as possible (but I'm not infallible so corrections are
welcomed!) by Andy Field July 1995.

Andy Field
(andyf@cogs.susx.ac.uk)




 @ALBUM: Henry's Dream
 by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds



 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @SONG: PAPA WON'T LEAVE YOU, HENRY
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Well,this one is in the key of F but is played with a Capo at the first fret as
 far as I can gather.

 INTRO:


 Capo |-*-|---|---|-- |-*-|---|---|-- |-*-|---|---|-- |-*-|---|-4-|-- |-*-|---|-3-|-- |-*-|---|---|--

 |-*-|---|---|-- |-*-|---|---|-- |-*-|---|---|-- |-*-|---|---|-4 |-*-|---|-3-|-- |-*-|---|---|--

 You can get the rhythm from the record. bssically you play the top chord above (an Fm)
 and just slide your 4th finger up one fret and back down again in time with the record.

 ****************

 Fm (same pattern as intro)

 I went out walking the other day
 The wind hung wet around my neck
 My head it rung with screams and groans
 >From the night I spent amongst her bones
 I past beside the mission house
 Where that mad old buzzard, the reverend,
 Shrieked and flapped about life after your dead
 Well, I thought about my friend, Michel
 How they rolled him in linoleum
 And shot him in the neck
 A bloody halo, like a think-bubble
 Circling his head
 And I bellowed at the firmament

                                  C
 Looks like the rains are hear to stay
 And the rain pissed down upon me

            Bb G#  G   Fm
 And washed me all a - way
 Saying

 Fm
 Papa won't leave you, Henry
 Papa won't leave you, Boy
 Papa won't leave you, Henry
 Papa won't leave you, Boy
 Well, the road is long
 And the road is hard

                      C
 And many fall by the side
 But Papa won't leave you, Henry

           C    Bb  G#  G  Fm
 So there ain't no need to cry

 Fm
 And I went on down the road
 He went on down the road
 And I went on down the road
 He went on down the road

 Repeat above for second verse/chorus

 *****

 (at the end of various phrases in this bit Blixa plays two notes
 Bb (3rd string 5th fret) and G# (4th string 6th fret). He puts a lot
 of vibrato on both notes. You can slot them in where appropriate.


 Fm
 And I came upon a little house
 A little house upon a hill
 And I entered through, the curtain hissed
 Into the house with its blood-red bowels
 Where wet-lipped women with greasy fists
 Crawled the ceilings and the walls
 They filled me full of drink
 And led me round the rooms
 Naked and cold and grinning
 Until everything went black
 And I came down spinning
 I awoke so drunk and full of rage
 That I could hardly speak
 A fag in a whale-bone corset
 Draping his dick across my cheek
 And its into the shame
 And its into a guilt
 And its into the fucking fray
 And the walls ran red around me
 A warm arterial spray
 Saying
 Papa won't leave you, Henry
 Papa won't leave you, Boy
 Papa won't leave you, Henry
 Papa won't leave you, Boy
 Well, the night is dark
 And the night is deep
 And its jaws are open wide
 But Papa won't leave you, Henry
 So there ain't no need to cry

 Repeat verse/chorus structure over the last verse/chorus.


 This version represents the live seeds version more than the Henry's dream version because the HD
 version has more pronounced keyboard parts which embellish what the guitar does. Still this is
 what the guitarists play believe it or not!!


 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @SONG: I HAD A DREAM, JOE
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Cm      F
 I had a dream

         D
 I had a dream

          Gm
 I had a dream

 Cm      F      Bb
 I had a dream, Joe


 -------- Gm
 I had a dream, Joe

                          Eb                D
 You were standing in the middle of an open road

         Gm
 I had a dream, Joe
 Your hands were raised up to the sky

           Eb                  D
 And your mouth was covered in foam

         Gm
 I had a dream, Joe

                 Eb                   D
 A shadowy Jesus flitted from tree to tree

          Gm
 I had a dream, Joe

                               Eb                     D
 And a society of whores stuck needles in an image of me

         Gm
 I had a dream, Joe

                         Eb               D
 It was Autumn time and thickly fell the leaves

             Gm
 And in that dream, Joe

                           Eb
 A pimp in seersucker suit sucked a toothpick

     D                     Cm
 And pointed his finger at me

 Cm      F
 I had a dream,

          D
 (I had a dream)

         Gm
 I had a dream,

 Cm       F     Bb
 I had a dream, Joe

 Repeat over other verses Choruses.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @SONG: STRAIGHT TO YOU
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Intro

 G# / Gm

         G#                  Gm
 All the towers of ivory are crumbling

         G#                            Gm
 And the swallows have sharpened their beaks

 G#      Bb  Eb                   G#
 This is the time of our great undoing

             Eb                   G#
 This is the time that I'll come running

 G#       Gm Fm
 Straight to you

           G#
 For I am captured

 G#       Gm Fm
 Straight to you

          G#
 For I am captured

 Bb       Eb
 One more time

 G# / Eb / G# / Fm / G# / Bb /

 G#                         Gm
 The light in our window is fading
  etc.


 G#           Bb       Gm   G#
 Gone are the days of rainbows

 G#           Bb         Gm               G#
 Gone are the nights of swinging from the stars

         Eb                      G#
 For the sea will swallow up the mountains

         Eb                               G#
 And the sky will throw thunder-bolts and sparks

 G#       Gm Fm
 Straight at you

                 G#
 But I'll come a-running

 G#       Gm Fm
 Straight to you

                 G#
 But I'll come a-running

 Bb       Eb
 One more time

 repeat verse pattern over last verse.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @SONG: BROTHER, MY CUP IS EMPTY
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Riff

 ----------------- ----------------- ----------------- ----------------- -------2--3^--2-- -0--3------------




 Em
 Brother, my cup is empty
 And I haven't got a penny

        Am
 For to buy no more whiskey

   Em (Riff - tab)
 I have to go home

 Em
 I am the captain of my pain
 Tis the bit, the bridle,
 The trashing cane

      Am
 The stirrup, the harness
 The whipping mane

     Em
 The pickled eye
 The shrinking brain
 O brother, buy me one more drink
 I'll explain the nature of my pain

      Am
 Yes, let me tell you once again

     Em (Riff)
 I am the captain of my pain


 Rpt over subsequent verse/chorus

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @SONG: CHRISTINA THE ASTONISHING
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 D
 Christina the Astonishing

                   Gm
 Lived a long time ago
 She was stricken with a seizure

                      D
 At the age of twenty-two
 They took her body in a coffin

                     Gm
 To a tiny church in Liege
 Where she sprang up from the coffin

                      D
 Just after the Agnus Dei
 She soared up to the rafters

                       Gm
 Perched on a beam up there
 Cried "The stink of human sin

      Eb                      D
 The stink Is more that I can bear"

 Eb  Bb  G#            Gm
 Oh, oh, ohohoh, ohoh- oh oh Rpt

 Eb  Bb  G#            Gm     D
 Oh, oh, ohohoh, ohoh- oh oh, oh

 Repeat over subsequent verses.

 (there is actually no Guitar on this track on the record
 everything is played on a keyboard)

 --------------------------
 @SONG: WHEN I FIRST CAME TO TOWN
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 INTRO:


 E |---|---|---|x B |---|---|---|x        Standard Chord tab - numbers relate to fingers G |---|---|---|o                             'x' means the string isn't played D |---|-*-|---|2                             'o' means the string is played 'open'. A |---|---|-*-|3 E |---|---|---|x


 E |---|---|---|x B |---|---|---|x G |---|---|---|o D |---|---|---|o A |---|---|-*-|3 E |---|---|---|x

 These two chords are 'picked' one string at a time from the A string down to the open G.
 i.e. you pick the three notes in the first chord, remove one finger and pick the three
 notes of the second chord (I will refer to this as the 'C Pattern'). This pattern is repeated over and over until the line "oh lord how quickly, they changed their tune' over which you play (with the same 'plucking' pattern as before) - I shall call this > the 'F pattern');


 E |---|---|---|x B |---|---|---|x G |---|-*-|---|2 D |---|---|---|x A |---|---|-*-|3 E |-*-|---|---|1

 E |---|---|---|x B |---|---|---|x G |---|---|---|o D |---|---|---|x A |---|---|-*-|3 E |-*-|---|---|1


 Then change back to the first pattern for the beginning of the next piece of lyric.
 i.e.

 C pattern

 When I first came to town
 All the people gathered round
 They bought me drinks


            F pattern                 C Pattern
 Lord, how quickly they changed their tune

 rpt over next lyrics;

 When I first came to town
 People took me round from end to end
 Like someone may take round a friend
 O how quickly they changed their tune

 Suspicion and dark murmurs surround me
 Everywhere I go they confound me
 As though the blood on my hands
 Is there for every citizen to see


 F
 O sweet Jesus

                     C
 There is no turning back

          Gm              Eb
 There is always one more town

          Cm               F
 A little further down the track

 C
 And from my window, across the tracks
 I watch the juicers burn their fires
 And in that light
 Their faces leer at me

       F                       C
 How I wish they'd just let me be

 C
 When I first came to town
 Their favours were for free

 Now even the doors of the whores of

  F                       C
  this town Are closed to me


 Repeat these basic chorus/verse patterns through the rest of the song. Should be easy if you just follow the record.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @SONG: JOHN FINN'S WIFE
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Fm

 Well the night was deep and the night was dark
 And I was at the old dance-hall on the edge of town
 Some big ceremony was going down
 Dancers writhed and squirmed and then,
 Came apart and then writhed again
 Like squirming flies on a pin
 In the heat and in the din
 Yes, in the heat and in the din
 I fell to thinking about brand new wife of mad John Finn

 Well, midnite came and clock did strike
 And in she came, did John Finn's wife
 With legs like scissors and butcher's knives
 A tattooed breast and flaming eyes
 And a crimson carnation in her teeth
 Carving her way through the dance floor
 And I'm standing over by the bandstand
 Every eye gaping on John Finn's wife
 Yeah, every eye gaping on John Finn's wife


 Gm / Cm / Gm / Cm / Gm / Cm / F

 Fm

 Now John Finn's wife was something of a mystery
 In a town where to share a sworn secret was a solemn duty
 I had brass knuckles and a bolo knife
 Over near the bandstand with John Finn's wife
 She got perfumed breasts and raven hair
 Sprinkled with wedding confettis
 And a gang of garrotters were all giving me stares
 Armed, as they were, with machetes
 And the night through the window was full of lights
 Winking and awatching at John Finns' wife
 Winking and awatching at John Finns' wife

 Next came the cops, all out on the town
 But it don't look like no trouble there
 As they had for the bar in their lumpy suits
 And I slip my hand between the things of John Finn's wife
 And they seemed to yawn awake, her things
 It was a warm and very ferocious night
 The moon full of blood and light
 And my eyes grew small and my eyes grew tight
 As I plotted in the ear of John Finns' wife

 Gm / Cm / Gm / Cm / Gm / Cm / F

 Fm
 Enter John Finn in his shrunken suit
 With his quick black eyes and black cheroot
 With his filled-down teeth and a hobnail boot
 And his fists full of pistols in his pockets
 Aiming at me and aiming at his wife
 The band fall silent fearing for their lives
 And with fear in my guts like tangled twine
 Cause all I got is brass knuckles and a bolo knife
 And mad John Finns' wife is all
 And the three of us walk out of the hall

 Now the night bore down upon us all
 You could hear the crickets in the thickets call
 And guns did flare and guns did bawl
 And I planted my bolo knife in the neck
 Of mad John Finn. I took his wretched life
 Now I'm over near the bandstand
 Every hand moving on John Finns' wife
 Every hand moving on John Finns' wife


 Fm              Bb
 And John Finns' wife

              F
 Took all the flowers down
           Gm
 >From her hair

     Cm                F
 And threw them on the ground

                   Bb
 And the flies did hum

                   F
 And the flies did buzz around

           Gm
 Poor John Finn

       Cm            F
 Lying dead upon the ground

                     Bb
 Lying dead upon the ground

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @SONG: THE LOOM OF THE LAND
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                         Fm
 It was the dirty end of winter

                       G#
 Along the loom of the land

                          Eb    C#
 When I walked with sweet Sally

 C#        Fm
 Hand upon hand

 Fm
 And the wind it bit bitter

                 G#
 For a boy of no means

                      Eb   C#
 With no shoes on his feet

 C#                 Fm
 And a knife in his jeans

 rpt

 Fm                  Eb
 O baby please don't cry

            Fm
 And try to keep

             Eb           C#
 Your little hand upon my shoulder

           Fm
 Now go to sleep

 repeat verse/chorus pattern over remaining words.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 @SONG: JACK THE RIPPER
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Gm /  / Fm / Gm /

 Gm            Fm / Gm
 I got a woman

 Gm                          Fm   Gm
 SHe rules my house with an iron fist

 Gm            Fm/Gm
 I got a woman

 Gm                         Fm   Gm
 She rules my house with an iron fist

      Dm
 She screams out Jack the Ripper

        Cm                            Gm
 Every time I try to give that girl a kiss

 Repeat over rest of song.

 ***********************************************************************************************