John Doe No 24

This song is in the key of E, but Mary Chapin plays it in G with a capo at the 9th fret, in open D tuning (DADF#AD). But the highest string is never used, so you don't have to tune that one down; since high E's often break, you may as well tune to DADF#AE. The guitar part repeats one pattern through the entire song, with some slight variations. This tablature is for the first four measures of the intro, and it shows two ways to play the end of the pattern; through most of the song, she uses the second way, especially while she's singing. (Note that the "131" in the tab is a hammer-on followed by a pull-off, and the "13" is a hammer-on from 1 to 3, not thirteen! D ----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------| A ------0---------|----------------|------0---------|----------------| F# 1-------1-----1-|------1-131---0-|1-------1-----1-|------1-13----0-| D ----0-------0---|----0-------0---|----0-------0---|----0-------0---| A --2-------3-----|--3-------------|--2-------3-----|--3-------0-----| D 0-------2-------|0-------0-------|0-------2-------|0-------0-------| ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . ^ . I'm not sure exactly which fingers she uses; she might use her thumb to fret the low E. (If anyone finds out, let me know.) Notice that I didn't put chord names; that's because they don't really matter. I guess you could say the chords are: G(9), C(9)/E, C(9)/D, D(4). LYRICS (each line is two measures): I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945 In Jacksonville, Illinois When asked what my name was there came no reply They said I was a deaf and sightless half-wit boy But Louis was my name, though I could not say it I was born and raised in New Orleans My spirit was wild, so I let the river take it On a barge and a prayer upstream Well they searched for a mother and they searched for a father And they searched till they searched no more The doctors put to rest their scientific tests And they named me "John Doe No. 24" And they all shook their heads in pity For a world so silent and dark Well there's no doubt that life's a mystery But so too is the human heart And it was my heart's own perfume when the crepe jasmine bloomed On Rue Morgue Avenue Though I couldn't hear the bells of the streetcars coming By toeing the track I knew And if I were an old man returning With my satchel and porkpie hat I'd hit every jazz joint on Bourbon And I'd hit everyone on Basin after that {sixteen-bar saxophone solo} The years kept passing as they passed me around From one state ward to another Like I was an orphan shoe from the lost and found Always missing the other And they gave me a harp last Christmas And all the nurses took a dance But lately I've been growing listless I've been dreaming again of the past I'm wandering down to the banks of the great Big Muddy Where the shotgun houses stand I am seven years old and I feel my dad Reach out for my hand While I drew breath no one missed me So they won't on the day that I cease Put a sprig of crepe jasmine with me To remind me of New Orleans I was standing on the sidewalk in 1945 In Jacksonville, Illinois {pause on A note (open 2nd string)} {repeat and fade with saxophone solo} ==-=--=---=----=-----=-------=---------=---------=-------=-----=----=---=--=-== Adam Schneider [email protected] Minneapolis, MN Mail me if you want guitar chords for Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Indigo Girls, Suzanne Vega, Lucinda Williams, etc. ==-=--=---=----=-----=-------=---------=---------=-------=-----=----=---=--=-==