the Whiteboard: (Song) Purple Rain to Mellow Yellow

Golden Brown

The Stranglers

Golden brown, texture like sun
Lays me down, with my might she runs
Throughout the night
No need to fight
Never a frown with golden brown

Every time just like the last
On her ship tied to the mast
To distant lands
Takes both my hands
Never a frown with golden brown

Golden brown, finer temptress
Through the ages she's heading west
From far away
Stays for a day
Never a frown with golden brown

Never a frown (never a frown), never a frown
With golden brown (with golden brown), with golden brown
Never a frown (never a frown), never a frown
With golden brown (with golden brown), with golden brown
Never a frown (never a frown), never a frown
With golden brown (with golden brown), with golden brown
Never a frown (never a frown), never a frown
With golden brown (with golden brown), with golden brown

Songwriters: Brian Duffy / Dave Greenfield / Hugh Cornwell / Jean Jacques Burnel

Golden Brown - The Stranglers

Golden Brown chords

How many chord patterns are used in this song?

Notes from Wikipedia:

The lyrics

There has been much controversy surrounding the lyrics. The band claimed that the song's lyrics were akin to an aural Rorschach test and that people only heard in it what they wanted to hear, although this did not prevent persistent allegations that the lyrics alluded to heroin. In his book The Stranglers Song By Song (2001), Hugh Cornwell states "'Golden Brown' works on two levels. It's about heroin and also about a girl." Essentially the lyrics describe how "both provided me with pleasurable times."

Musical composition

The main body of the song has a 6/8 feel and is pitched halfway between the keys of E minor and E-flat minor, possibly to accommodate the tuning of the harpsichord. The instrumental introduction, in (a very flat) B minor, is unconventional. The keyboard and harpsichord vamp in 3/4, and in the head every fourth bar is in 4/4. The alternating time signatures create a surreal quality.

Mellow Yellow

Donovan

I'm just mad about saffron
A-saffron's mad about me
I'm-a just mad about saffron
She's just mad about me

They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

I'm just mad about fourteen
Fourteen's mad about me
I'm-a just mad about-a fourteen
A-she's just mad about me

They call me mellow yellow
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

Born-a high forever to fly

A-wind-a velocity nil
Born-a high forever to fly
If you want, your cup I will fill

They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

So mellow yellow

Electrical banana
Is gonna be a sudden craze
Electrical banana

Is bound to be the very next phase

They call it mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

Saffron, yeah
I'm just-a mad about her
I'm-a just-a mad about-a saffron
She's just mad about me

They call it mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow (Quite rightly)
They call me mellow yellow

Oh, so yellow...

Songwriters: Donovan Leitch

Mellow Yellow

Mellow Yellow chords

NB: It's a D7 in the chorus (the chart says D)

Background

The song was rumoured to be about smoking dried banana skins, which was believed to be a hallucinogenic drug in the 1960s, though this aspect of bananas has since been debunked. Donovan only heard the rumour after he'd recorded the song. He admitted later the song made reference to a vibrator; an "electrical banana" as mentioned in the lyrics. Saffron is an aphrodisiac.

Purple Rain

Prince, The Revolution, ...

I never meant to cause you any sorrow
I never meant to cause you any pain
I only wanted to one time to see you laughing
I only wanted to see you
Laughing in the purple rain

Purple rain, purple rain
Purple rain, purple rain
Purple rain, purple rain
I only wanted to see you
Bathing in the purple rain

I never wanted to be your weekend lover
I only wanted to be some kind of friend
Baby, I could never steal you from another
It's such a shame our friendship had to end

Purple rain, purple rain
Purple rain, purple rain
Purple rain, purple rain
I only wanted to see you
Underneath the purple rain

Honey, I know, I know
I know times are changing
It's time we all reach out
For something new, that means you too

You say you want a leader
But you can't seem to make up your mind
I think you better close it
And let me guide you to the purple rain

Purple rain, purple rain
Purple rain, purple rain
If you know what I'm singing about up here
C'mon, raise your hand

Purple rain, purple rain
I only want to see you
Only want to see you
In the purple rain

Songwriters: Prince Rogers Nelson

Purple Rain

Purple Rain chords

These really are completely easy chords. They are often use to teach beginners.

Purple Rain was originally written as a country duet for singer Stevie Nicks.

White Rabbit

Jefferson Airplane

One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you, don't do anything at all

Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits, and you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah-smoking caterpillar has given you the call

And call Alice, when she was just small

When the men on the chessboard get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom, and your mind is moving low

Go ask Alice, I think she'll know

When logic and proportion have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's off with her head
Remember what the dormouse said
Feed your head, feed your head

Songwriters: Grace Wing Slick

White Rabbit

White Rabbit chords

Bolero by Maurice Ravel

Notice the use of snare drum as the basis for the rest of the piece.

Lyrics and composition

"White Rabbit" is one of Grace Slick's earliest songs, written during either late 1965 or early 1966. It uses imagery found in the fantasy works of Lewis Carroll—1865's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1871 sequel Through the Looking-Glass—such as changing size after taking pills or drinking an unknown liquid. Characters Slick referenced include Alice, the White Rabbit, the hookah-smoking caterpillar, the White Knight, the Red Queen, and the Dormouse.

Slick reportedly wrote the song after an acid trip. For Slick, White Rabbit "is about following your curiosity. The White Rabbit is your curiosity". For her and others in the 1960s, drugs were a part of mind expansion and social experimentation. With its enigmatic lyrics, "White Rabbit" became one of the first songs to sneak drug references past censors on the radio.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Slick mentioned that, in addition to Alice in Wonderland, her other inspiration for the song was Ravel's Boléro. Like Boléro, "White Rabbit" is essentially one long crescendo. The music combined with the song's lyrics strongly suggests the sensory distortions experienced with hallucinogens, and the song was later used in pop culture to imply or accompany just such a state.

Brown Girl

Aaradhna

I'm more than the colour of my skin
I'm the girl that likes to sing
All I know is whats within
Just the brown girl in the ring

Go to school and learn their ways
Don't have to think at what to say
While my mother sits to pray
I pray for better days

God please help them see
They ain't no different from me
Not above, not beneath
Teach them equality

I'm not just the brown girl, in the ring
I'm a girl, that likes to sing
I'm not just the brown girl, in the ring
I'm a girl that likes to sing

I'm more than what they think of me
More than the colour tones that they see
More than urban and r&b, more than a slang that I speak

Close your eyes, don't say your word
Don't speak about what you seen or heard
Lets pretend that it's ok
Just the way the devil likes to play

Look in my eyes, look in my eyes
I can't lie I can't lie
All these years of my life
I'm just from the outside

I'm not just the brown girl, in the ring
I'm a girl, that likes to sing
I'm not just the brown girl, in the ring
I'm a girl that likes to sing

And if you don't know by now
Time will show you what, I'm talking 'bout
Said if you don't know by now
Time will show you what, I'm talking 'bout
I'm talking 'bout

I'm not just the brown girl, in the ring
I'm a girl, that likes to sing
I'm not just the brown girl, in the ring
I'm a girl that likes to sing

Songwriters: Jeffrey Silverman / Aaradhna Patel / VINCENT D ANNUNZIO

Brown Girl

Boney M. - Brown Girl In The Ring

Aaradhna turns down Hip Hop Award

Brown Girl chords

Background

"Brown Girl in the Ring" is a traditional children's song in the West Indies. It was originally featured in the game of the same name, thought to have originated in Jamaica. Players form a ring by holding hands, then one girl or boy goes into the middle of the ring and starts skipping or walking around to the song. The girl or boy is then asked, "Show me your motion". At this point the child in the centre does his or her favourite dance. If asked "Show me your partner", he or she picks a friend to join him or her in the circle. It has been played for many centuries in all of Jamaica.

The song became internationally known when it was recorded by the group Boney M. in 1978.

In November 2016, the Brown Girl won the hip-hop award at the 2016 New Zealand Music Awards. Aaradhna famously turned the award down, stating that she was not a Hip Hop artist and felt she had been “placed in the category of brown people”.

Paint It Black

The Rolling Stones

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I see a line of cars and they're all painted black
With flowers and my love both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a new born baby it just happens ev'ry day

I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door I must have it painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facin' up, when your whole world is black

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you

If I look hard enough into the settin' sun
My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

Hmm, hmm, hmm...

I want to see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I want to see the sun, blotted out from the sky
I want to see it painted, painted, painted, painted black
Yeah

Hmm, hmm, hmm...

Paint it Black

Paint it Black chords

How many chord patterns are there?

I See Red

Split Enz

When my baby is walking down the street
I see red, I see red, I see red
How can someone wicked walk around free
I see red, I see red, I see red
I see red, oh I see red

You gave me such precious hours
What to do without you
Squeezed me out of your life
Down the drain like molten toothpaste
I feel used and spat out
Poor old me

When my baby is walking down the street
I see red, I see red, I see red
How can someone wicked walk around free
I see red, I see red, I see red
I see red, oh I see red

I am fed up with crying
My despair is drying
Draining into rage day by day
Green before you met me
In the pink when you let me love you
I was blue when you let me down
Black and blue

When my baby is walking down the street
I see red, I see red, I see red
How can someone wicked walk around free
I see red, I see red, I see red
I see red, oh I see red

Songwriters: Brian Timothy Finn / Anthony Edward Charles Rayner

I See Red

I See Red chords

The chorus dominates this song (like a man seeing red) and is in F major while the verses are sung over a G7 chord. At the end of the song the main hook from the chorus (I see red X 3) is sung over the G7. At the very end of the song, musically, the song silences very suddenly instead of fading out or being ended at the end of a bar, due to the tape running out during recording. In the music video at this moment, the band members disappear from the performance area leaving the space only with instruments in place.

Background

A one-off recording made at Startling Studios, owned by Ringo Starr and formerly owned by John Lennon.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John

(1973)

When are you gonna come down?
When are you going to land?
I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened to my old man

You know you can't hold me forever
I didn't sign up with you
I'm not a present for your friends to open
This boy's too young to be singing, the blues

So goodbye yellow brick road
Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road

What do you think you'll do then?
I bet that'll shoot down your plane
It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics
To set you on your feet again

Maybe you'll get a replacement
There's plenty like me to be found
Mongrels who ain't got a penny
Sniffing for tidbits like you on the ground

So goodbye yellow brick road

Where the dogs of society howl
You can't plant me in your penthouse
I'm going back to my plough

Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Hunting the horny back toad
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
Beyond the yellow brick road

Songwriters: Bernie Taupin / Elton John

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Chords

The bass line

Notice how the bass changes feel in the chorus.

A great chord progression to get your head around.

[Intro]
F C Dm C Bb C F (Hold last F for a whole bar)


[Verse 1]
Gm                      C
When are you gonna come down
F                     Bb
When are you going to land
  Gm                        C
I should have stayed on the farm, should have
F                  F
Listened to my old man
    Gm                        C
You know you can't hold me forever
  F                   Bb
I didn't sign up with you
    Eb                     C
I'm not a present for your friends to open
     F                     F
This boy's too young to be singing
    Db  Eb   Ab  Db   Bbm  C7
The blues... Ah...... Ah....


[Chorus]
   F                    A7
So goodbye yellow brick road
          Bb              F
Where the dogs of society howl
    D7                     Gm
You can't plant me in your penthouse
    C                F
I'm going back to my plow
Dm                      A
Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Bb                      Db
Hunting the horny black toad
Db Eb   F         C/E      Dm       Dm/C
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
   Bb      C            Db  Eb
Beyond the yellow brick road ...
Ab  Db  Bbm  C  F
Ah..... Ah......


[Verse 2]
Gm                       C
What do you think you'll do then?
  F                            Bb
I bet they'll shoot down the plane
      Gm                   C
It'll take you a couple of vodka and tonics
   F                      F
To set you on your feet again
Gm                   C
Maybe you'll get a replacement
        F                    Bb
There's plenty like me to be found
Eb           C
Mongrels who ain't got a penny
F                         F
Sniffing for tidbits like you
       Db  Eb    Ab  Db  Bbm  C7
On the ground... Ah....  Ah....


[Chorus]
   F                    A7
So goodbye yellow brick road
          Bb              F
Where the dogs of society howl
    D7                     Gm
You can't plant me in your penthouse
    C                F
I'm going back to my plow
Dm                      A
Back to the howling old owl in the woods
Bb                      Db
Hunting the horny black toad
Db Eb   F         C/E      Dm       Dm/C
Oh I've finally decided my future lies
   Bb      C            Db  Eb
Beyond the yellow brick road ...
Ab  Db  Bbm  C  F
Ah..... Ah......

Background

The Yellow Brick Road is an image taken from L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In the book, Dorothy and her three misfit friends are instructed to follow the yellow brick road in search of the Wizard of Oz, only to find that they had what they were looking for all along. The road leads to the Emerald City in the land of Oz, often referred to as a metaphor for the road that leads to life's fantasies or answers. The lyrics describe wanting to go back to a simpler existence after living what the narrator thought was a good life but realizing he has simply been treated like a pet by his rich socialite lover.

The Wizard of Oz was reportedly the first film that Elton John's songwriting partner Bernie Taupin had ever seen, and he used the imagery in the lyrics relating to his own life as his desire to get back to his roots.

Pink Frost

The Chills

I want to stop my crying
I want to stop my crying
But she's lying there dying

How can I live when you see what I've done?
How can I live when you see what I've done?

What can I do if she dies?
What can I do if she dies?
What can I do if she's lost?
Just the thought fills my heart with Pink Frost

I thought I was dreaming -
So I didn't heed her screaming
I'm so scared
I'm so scared

She won't move and I'm holding her head
She won't move and I'm holding her head

She's lost...Bye Bye Bye
She's lost...Bye Bye Bye
She's lost...Bye Bye Bye
Pink frost...Bye Bye Bye

I'm really not lying
I'm so scared
I'll have to stop my crying
Now she's dead

What can I do if she dies?
What can I do if she dies?
What can I do if she's lost?
Just the thought fills my heart with Pink Frost
(Oh no!)

Songwriters: Martin John James Phillipps

Pink Frost

Pink Frost chords

NB: recording is closer to F than F-sharp.

Green Grass

Tom Waits

Lay your head where my heart used to be
Hold the earth above me
Lay down on the green grass
Remember when you loved me

Come closer don't be shy
Stand beneath a rainy sky
The moon is over the rise
Think of me as a train goes by

Clear the thistles and brambles
Whistle 'Didn't he ramble'
Now there's a bubble of me
And it's floating in thee

Stand in the shade of me
Things are now made of me
The weather vane will say
It smells like rain today

God took the stars and he tossed 'em
Can't tell the birds from the blossoms
You'll never be free of me
He'll make a tree from me

Don't say goodbye to me
Describe the sky to me
And if the sky falls, mark my words
We'll catch mocking birds

Lay your head where my heart used to be
Hold the earth above me
Lay down on the green grass
Remember when you loved me

Songwriters: Kathleen Brennan / Thomas Alan Waits

Green Grass

Green Grass chords

Golden Hours

Brian Eno

The passage of time
Is flicking dimly up on the screen
I can't see the lines
I used to think i could read between
Perhaps my brains have turned to sand

Oh me oh my
I think it's been an eternity
You'd be surprised
At my degree of uncertainty
How can moments go so slow.

Several times
I've seen the evening slide away
Watching the signs
Taking over from the fading day
Perhaps my brains are old and scrambled.

(Simultaneously sung behind the verse:)

Who would believe what a poor set of eyes can show you
Who would believe what an innocent voice could do
Never a silence always a face at the door.

Several times
I've seen the evening slide away
Watching the signs
Taking over from the fading day
Changing water into wine.

(Simultaneously sung behind the verse:)

Who would believe what a poor set of ears can tell you
Who would believe what a weak pair of hands can do
Never a silence always a foot in the door.

Several times
I've seen the evening slide away
Watching the signs
Taking over from the fading day
Putting the grapes back on the vine.

Songwriters: Brian Eno

Golden Hours

Golden Hours chords

Lyrics

To create the lyrics for this song, Eno played the backing track singing nonsense syllables to himself, then taking them and forming them into actual words, phrases and meaning. This lyric-writing method was used for all his vocal-based recordings of the 1970s.

Pale Blue Eyes

The Velvet Underground

Sometimes I feel so happy
Sometimes I feel so sad
Sometimes I feel so happy
But mostly you just make me mad
Baby, you just make me mad