Sons Of 1984 composed by Todd Rundgren from the album "Todd" Warning - this arrangement doesn't qualify for the "EZ" label. An extreme example of "the Todd Chord"*. I can't recall Todd taking this much technique further than he did here. I guess I went overboard here, trying to mimic the keyboard part on guitar, but I like a challenge! The result it a bit difficult to play, but satisfying. A fun alternative would be to get together with a bass or guitar player and split duties - guitar #1 plays the upper triads, guitar #2 plays the bass line. I have 2 recorded versions of the song - the common studio version from "Todd" that we all know and love, and one from the "Nimbus Thitherwald" boot. That version is taken a breathless gallop and was good for me because, without the horn parts from the album version, I could hear the keyboard part very clearly. You can listen to an example of how I intend the solo version to sound on my web site at http://www.channel1.com/users/lsprague/sounds/1984.ram The introduction is especially interesting. He combines the "Todd chord" ideas with a simple, insistent rhythmic motif (dut - DAH... dut - DAH...) to create a musical passage that mounts in excitement as it seems to veer toward dissonance and the harmonic rhythm of the chords becomes unclear. There's a sense of triumph when the intro ends solidly back in the key of C. Here's a big utopian "Thank you" to Singring for supplying much of the harmony below. I had a tough time with this until you gave me some much-needed clues. [* a pianistic approach to harmony where you play various simple triads over unexpected bass notes (e.g. a G major triad on top, over a C note in the bass)] ------ (Intro: see below for more detail) G C C/F F/Bb Fdim7 Abdim7 Abdim/E Am7 Am/C Dm/F Bdim7 C/E Bb/Bb Bb/Eb Eb/Ab Ab/Db Gm/C Bb/C ... Bb/C F/C ... F/C C C/C Bb/Bb ... Eb/Bb Bb/Bb ... Bb/Bb F/Bb F/Bb C/C ... C/C G/B Bb/C F/C C ... F/C G/C C ---- C G/D C/E F C/E Bbmaj7 Open your eyes and see Dm/C F/C C The world I couldn't change for you G/D C/E F C/E Bbmaj7 Reach out your hand and take Dm/C F/C C The world that will belong to you Abmaj7 Gm7 C Bb/Eb We were on our way to a better day Dm7 F/G C And the spirit was in us all Abmaj7 Gm7 C Bb/Eb But as time went by we fell by the wayside Dm7 F/G C Maybe you'll be the last to fall (etc....) C G/D C/E F C/E Worlds of to - mor - row Dm7 C/E G/F C/G G Life with - out sor - row C G/D C/E F C/E Bbmaj7 Take it be - cause it's yours Dm7 F/E F F/F# C/G G C Sons of nine - teen - eight - y - four --------------------------------------------------- (intro) E--|-0------|-1------|--------|--------|- B--|31------|51------|03------|65------|- G--|40------|52------|14------|75------|- D--|5-------|5-------|03------|65------|- A--|53------|-1------|--------|--------|- E--|3-------|1-------|14------|05------|- E--|--------|--------|-6------|-4------|- B--|56------|-5------|66------|84------|- G--|57------|75------|77------|85------|- D--|77------|65------|8-------|8-------|- A--|-8------|-7------|-6------|-4------|- E--|8-------|7-------|6-------|4-------|- E--|6 6 - - 6 - - - |- - - - - - - - |- - - - - - - - |- - - - - - - - |- B--|8 6 - - 6 10- - |108 - - 8 6 - - |8 6 - - 6-10- - |108 - - 8 8 - - |- G--|7 7 - - 7 10- - |109 - - 9 7 - - |8 7 - - 7-10- - |109 - - 9 7 - - |- D--|- - - - - 10- - |1010- - 108 - - |8 8 - - 8-10- - |1010- - 109 - - |- A--|- - - - - - - - |- - - - - - - - |- - - - - - - - |- - - - - - - - |- E--|- 8 - - - 8 - - |- 8 - - - 6 - - |- 6 - - - 6 - - |- 8 - - - 7 - - |- E--|6 - 6 - - - - - |- - - - - - - - |8 - B--|6 - 6 - 10- 10- |8 - - - 10- 12- |8 - G--|7 - 7 - 10- 10- |9 - - - 10- 12- |9 - D--|- - - - 10- 10- |10- - - 10- 12- |- - A--|- - - - - - - - |- - - - - - - - |- - E--|8 - 8 - 8 - 8 - |8 - - - 8 - 8 - |8 - (verse part 1:) Open your eyes and see... E--|--------|--------|--------|1---1---|- B--|5---3-5-|6---5---|6-------|3---1---|- G--|5---4-5-|5---5---|7-------|2---2---|- twice D--|5---5-5-|7---5---|7-------|--------|- A--|3---5-7-|8---7---|--------|3---3---|- E--|--------|--------|6-------|--------|- We were on our way to a better day... E--|--------|--------|--------|----1---|- B--|5-------|4---3---|5---5---|5---1---|- G--|5-------|5---3---|5---6---|4---3---|- twice D--|5---2356|5---3---|5---7---|6-------|- A--|3-35----|--------|3---5---|4-------|- E--|--------|4---3---|--------|----3---|- (Chorus:) Worlds of tomorrow, life without sorrow... E--|--------|--------|--------|- - - - - - - - |- B--|5---3-5-|6---5---|6---5---|- - - - 3 - - - |- G--|5---4-5-|5---5---|5---5-7-|9 - - - 5 - - - |- D--|5---5-5-|7---5---|7---5-9-|10- - - 5 - - - |- A--|3---5-7-|8---7---|5---7-8-|10- - - 5 - - - |- E--|--------|--------|--------|- - - - 3 - - - |- Take it because it's yours... E--|--------|--------|--------|----0---|- B--|5---3-5-|6---5---|6-------|6666--3-|- G--|5---4-5-|5---5---|7-------|55553-4-|- repeat intro D--|5---5-5-|7---5---|7-------|02345-3-|- A--|3---5-7-|8---7---|--------|--------|- E--|--------|--------|6-------|------3-|- -------------------------------------------------------- About my tab style: This message should be displayed in a mono-spaced font (e.g. courier,) or the chord diagrams and tablatures will look unaligned. The letter to the left of the slash in chord names like "A/D" refers to a triad, and the letter to the right refers to the bass note only. The horizontal dashes in the tablature diagram correspond to 8th notes unless otherwise indicated. Note that where the notes reach above the 10th fret, I've moved separated the dashes with a space to acommodate the 2-digit number. The song remains in 4/4 time throughout. If you see any mistakes, or have any corrections or alternate ways of playing any of my tabs, I'd love to hear from you. Please email me at lsprague@channel1.com . Last revised 10:55am Saturday, February 06, 1999 -- ...Lin Sprague... lsprague@channel1.com