WHY MUST I PLEAD By Richard Thompson From the album "Rumor and Sigh" A live version can be found on "Celtschmerz" THIS TRANSCRIPTION IS IN THREE PARTS -------------------------------------------------------------- FIRST VERSION Transcribed by Dan Herman I play this song capoed up a couple of frets in a DADGBD tuning. As usual, RT uses a bass runs on the low D string to go between G and D and Em to A in the verse and from Bm to G and D to G in the chorus. D All your bitterness and lies Sting like tears in my eyes And a thousand love-sick tunes G Won't wash away the wounds from my mind Em A You've been seen around, you're a new sensation Em A You got a better deal, and you took his invitation Em A You've been sitting on his lap and taking his dictation D- G- A Oh but mercy, we used to love all day and drive all night D G A Oh mercy, jealousy used to whet your appetite D G A Bm Oh mercy, we were low as dogs and high as kites G Why must I plead with you darling Bm G Why must I plead with you darling D G A Why must I plead with you darling G For what's already mine Well my friends are indiscreet And I sing myself to sleep I don't mind the red wine Or the pick-up line as long as it's cheap Oh I ask you what's what and you say I'm all yours I ask who your friend is and you say it's Santa Claus I ask you to come home, you say you're tired of being indoors Oh but mercy, you know you signed on that dotted line Oh mercy, you signed yours and I signed mine Oh mercy, you said forever till the end of time Oh why must I plead with you darling Why must I plead with you darling Oh why must I plead with you darling For what's already mine I said why must I plead with you darling For what's already mine ------------------------------------------------------------------- SECOND VERSION Transcribed by Rich Kendrick Webmaster of The Richard Thompson TAB Archive I've been meaning to transcribe this song for absolutely ages! Dan's transcription has finally made me actually get round to putting some ideas down into a textfile. Whilst, I'm sure that double-dropped-D-tuning (DADGBD) sounds fine. When playing acoustically, RT does in fact play this song in Dropped-D-tuning (DADGBE) at the third fret. Much of this transcription, though relevant to all versions of the song is based on the version that can be found on Celtschmerz. Anyway, here's how I play it......... Chords shown are relative to the capo at position three: DADGBE D 0*0232 G 020033 or 555787 Em 222453 A *02220 D/F# 4*0232 FILL 1 (played in between verses): It's very difficult to do this fill justice with tablature because it is such a nice little piece! I'll try and guide you down the right path and then leave it to you to actually translate it into sounding exactly like the actual song. D D/F# |--Twiddly bits-| Repeat as necessary for the song E |-2----2--------2-0---2---------0------------------------- B |-3----3--------3---3---0-0---3--------------------------- G |-2----2--------------------2----------------------------- D |-0----0-------------------------------------------------- A |-*----*--------2-------2-2-0----------------------------- D |-0----4-------------------------------------------------- FILL 2 (played after Fill 1): Although this fill is certainly far from perfect, it is a fairly nice example of the "sort" of turnaround that RT plays. If anyone has a perfect (or even near perfect) transcription of this then please send it to me and I'll add it to the file. E |---------------------------2----------------------------- B |---8-8-7-5-3---------------3----------------------------- G |---7-7-7-7-4----------0----2----------------------------- D |-----------------0h2----0--0----------------------------- A |-------------0h2-----------*----------------------------- D |-0-------------------------0----------------------------- D G All your bitterness and lies D G Sting like tears in my eyes D And a thousand love-sick tunes D/F# G Won't wash away the wounds from my mind Em A You've been seen around, you're a new sensation Em A You got a better deal, and you took his invitation Em D A You've been sitting on his lap and taking his dictation D D/F# G A Oh but mercy, we used to love all day and drive all night D D/F# G A Oh mercy, jealousy used to whet your appetite D D/F# G A Bm Oh mercy, we were low as dogs and high as kites G Why must I plead with you darling Bm G Why must I plead with you darling D D/F# G A Why must I plead with you darling D FILL1 x 2 then FILL2 x 1 For what's already mine Well my friends are indiscreet And I sing myself to sleep I don't mind the red wine Or the pick-up line as long as it's cheap Oh I ask you what's what and you say I'm all yours I ask who your friend is and you say it's Santa Claus I ask you to come home, you say you're tired of being indoors Oh but mercy, you know you signed on that dotted line Oh mercy, you signed yours and I signed mine Oh mercy, you said forever till the end of time Oh why must I plead with you darling Why must I plead with you darling Oh why must I plead with you darling Bm For what's already mine I said why must I plead with you darling For what's already mine MAIN MELODY OF FIRST PART OF GUITAR SOLO (played after fill 1): Once again, lots more is going on than I have transcribed. E |--------------------------------------------------------- B |-s8-7-5-7s8---------------------------------------------- G |------------6-7-7s11-11--11-9-7-9s11--------------------- D |-------------------------------------9-7----------------- A |--------------------------------------------------------- D |---------------------------------------7----------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------- From: I.Woodley@surrey.ac.uk (Ian) The following is my attempt to show my thoughts on two fills used in Why Must I plead (this is my first attempt at this so humble appologise in advance) G (fill 1) Won't wash away the wounds from my mind Em A You've been seen around, you're a new sensation Fill 1 G add sus4 (2nd string first fret, 3rd open, 4th 2nd fret) then sliding 4th srting from 2nd fret to 4th fret and back to 2nd, whilst playing open 3rd string in unison, the a Run using 4th string open and 5th string 2nd fret to go into the E minor chord. Bm Oh mercy, we were low as dogs and high as kites G (fill 2) Why must I plead with you darling Fill 2 6th string 5th fret, 4th string open, 3rd string at the 4th fret, 2nd string at the 3rd fret, 5th open. Then hammer on the 2nd string at the 5th fret, strum a few times and then release all string except the root at on the 6th string.