Cliche ------------------------------------------- Well, maybe not so EZ as some of the other tabs in this series. I've tried to make this arrangement as much as possible like Todd's solo on Back To The Bars (except for the bridge, which is more like the studio version on Faithful.) You can play it simpler, but still effectively by playing simple 1st position (near the nut) chords, rather than the voicings I've indicated, but, of course, you will lose some Todditity. I like to play this finger-style, picking the bass note with the thumb and plucking the upper triad with my index, middle, and ring fingers. This leaves me ready to arpeggiate the big Eadd9 chord in the chorus with the least effort (it's a bit harder to do accurately with a pick.) This arrangement has lots of ringing open strings, especially the upper E and B strings. This gives it a chimey sound, reminiscent of a 12-string guitar. Many thanks to Brian Smith who pointed out the correct chords for the bridge - I'd been playing it wrong for years and knew it, but I couldn't quite hear what was really going on until now. When you see something like "(*2)", see the corresponding note at the bottom. Cliche ------------------------------------------- (*1) [open E bass--------->] [open A bass-->][G# bass----------->] A E B E B A D A B E B A/B One more game, one more chance, one more orchestrated song and dance (as above) He'd be up front and speak his peace and ask for her time Aadd9 To put their heads together and try to make the knot unwind... A G#m F#m And it strikes home that it's time to make his move A B Eadd9 (*2) or it's time to turn and walk away A G#m F#m A B Eadd9 (*2) So he plays that old cliche Silent tears, bleeding heart - well our prima donna plies her art Defenses of defenses of faultless design. Still she's only asking him to help her make the knot unwind... And if the very next words leaving her lips could decide if he'd go or if he'd stay She would play that old cliche (*3) B B/A A Who makes up the rules for the wor...ld? B B/A A Haven't we been down this road before? F#7 A/G D/G Isn't anything peculiar here? Em A B Certainly there must be something more Where are the words, where are the words, where are the words Where are the words, where are the words, where are the words And it's almost not worth singing about, it seems so everyday anyway Still we play that old cliche And here sit I, one man show. I vivisect and then pretend to know All it ever gets me is an ache in the mind - can't somebody help me to try to make the knot unwind... And I say what I say when I know there's really nothing left to say Then I play that old cliche Throw away that old cliche ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (*1) Notice the slow-moving melodic bass pattern with various triads suspended above it - a TR trademark. [open E bass------------------------------------>] A E B E B ox o ox o ox o ox o ox 9||111| 9||111| 7||||1| 7|||||| 7||||1| ||||2| |||||| |||2|| |||||| |||2|| ||3||| |||||| ||3||| ||333| ||3||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| [open A bass ------------->] [fretted G# bass ] A D A B/G# E/G# A/B xo o xo xo * * ______ 5||||1| 5|||||| 5||||1| 41|111| 41|111| 1|||||| |||2|| |||||| |||2|| |||||| ||||2| |11111 ||3||| ||333| ||3||| |||||| ||3||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ...try to make the knot unwind... Aadd9 _o__oo |||||| ||11|| |||||| |||||| A G#m F#m A B oo oo oo 5|||||| 4|||1|| 2|||1|| 2||111| 4||111| |||2|| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |34||| |34||| |34||| |3|||| |3|||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| (*2) Here's the "hook" or the catchy little guitar figure that reappears throughout the song. It's an arpeggiated E chord with an added F# note (the 9th) on the 4th string. This is a difficult chord to play - you have to really stretch your pinky to catch it. You have to let the G# on the 3rd string ring, too, in order to get the close interval that makes the chord so distinctive. E Eadd9 o____o o____o 1|||1|| 1|||1|| |23||| |2|||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ||4||| E--|---0--|------|---0--|------|- B--|--0-0-|------|--0-0-|------|- G--|-2---2|-----1|-2---2|-----1|- D--|2-----|4--4--|2-----|4--4--|- A--|2-----|--2---|2-----|--2---|- E--|0-----|------|0-----|------|- (*3) Bridge: B B/A A F#7 A/G D/G ______ xo____ ______ _x___x _x___x 1|||||| |||||| |||||| 2111111 |||||| |||||| |1|||| |||||| ||111| |||2|| ||111| ||111| |||||| |||||| |||||| |3|||| 2||||| 2|||3| ||444| ||444| |||||| |||||| |||||| ||4||| Em A B o__ooo xo___o x_____ 1|||||| |||||| |||||| |12||| ||111| |11111 |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| |||||| ||444| Notes: This message should be displayed in a mono-spaced font, or the chord diagrams and tabs won't be aligned properly. 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 number directly to the left of the chord diagram is the position on the guitar neck (or closest fret). "x" along the top means mute or deaden that string, "o" means let it ring open. Last revised 11:45am Saturday, August 9, 1997 -- ...Lin Sprague... lsprague@channel1.com -OR- lsprague@cass.ma02.bull.com