THE GHOST OF YOU WALKS By Richard Thompson From the album "You? Me? Us?-Voltage enhanced" This transcription is in no way complete! However, it does offer some valuable insights into the song. Many thanks to all those people mentioned in this file, and particular thanks to Clive Baugh for sending the majority of the file to me! Return-Path: Delivered-To: r.kendrick@netcom.co.uk From: "Clive Baugh" Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 18:30:32 +500 Subject: Re: chords for Ghost Apparently-To: Thanks to No'am for writing up the lyric and chords for "The Ghost of You Walks". I've been working on this song too. My version of the chords for the first section differ quite a bit. Perhaps No'am, or other guitarists on the List, could compare, and then advise us on their opinion. E F# B E If that was our goodbye kiss F# B E Seems a habit too good to miss F#m B F#m A E Once more for the memory E F# B E Hit the heights too well that time F# B E To leave it there would be a crime F#m B F#m A E Seems more like beginning to me. From: sallitt@netcom.com (Dan Sallitt) Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 19:43:11 -0400 Subject: Re: chords for Ghost I would say that most of those chords probably shouldn't be played as full chords - usually an accent seems more appropriate than a chord. Here are the only chord changes that I would make. > E > If that was our goodbye kiss > > Seems a habit too good to miss > F#m E > Once more for the memory > > Hit the heights too well that time > > To leave it there would be a crime > F#m E > Seems more like beginning to me. From: WFerg424@AOL.COM Date: Wed, 29 May 1996 21:48:29 -0400 Subject: re Ghost....Chords > So, does anyone know the chords to "The Ghost of You Walks"? The transition from the verse to the bridge is gorgeous; if no one has the chords, does anyone know what that particular change is? Ken kbays@nyx.net > ...and I thought this was easy! Not quite! First off: No DADGAD here, you need too many minor notes! On the record there are two distinct parts: a bass counterpoint (low three strings, E - A - D) which sets the foundation; and the vamped melody counterpoint in the right channel. The left side is easy: E...............F#m.......E....... E...............F#m.......E.....F#m. G#...C#.D#. (x 3) G#...C.... Fm...C#... ( x 4) G#...C#.D#. ( x 3) E............... The right side: uuh........depends on how you feel about C-position chords! E....Eadded9: during the "E" section F#m-aug2 (F# minor, augmented 2nd added)...F#m: during the "F#m" section Everything in the right channnel is played in "1-2,1-2..." fashion, complementing the "1-2-3-4" in the left channel. . From: M.Paterson@roe.ac.uk Date: Thu, 30 May 1996 08:45:03 +0100 Subject: Re: chords for Ghost Oh, what the heck! I'm going for the compromise solution here. For the line "If that was our goodbye kiss" - We've had: E F# B E and E I use: E Eaug4 E5 E ^^ (also known as tritone or diminished 5th) That seems to fit in better with Dan's accented E. Cheers, Magnus From: "Clive Baugh" Date: Fri, 31 May 1996 22:30:12 +500 Subject: Schoenberg meets Ghost chords Thanks to Dan Sallitt, Walt Ferguson, No'am Newman, and Magnus Paterson for further comments on the chords for the first part of "The Ghost of You Walks". It has been fun checking out the various versions and I've reaaly enjoyed reading the technical discussions. I'm self-taught as far as my guitar-playing goes, and although I have a pretty good foundation in the basics of music theory, I don't find it easy to hear some of these more exotic chords we've been discussing. I had an interesting discussion about "Ghost..." with a colleague of mine who teaches music in the school where I teach. Now, he's never heard of RT, although he did have a vague acquaintance with Fairport Convention. This colleague of mine -- Charles Heller is his name -- is a classically-trained musician who grew up in the Bethnal Green/ Stepney area of north London. I had taped the song for him to listen to, and showed him the thread of the internet, by the way) dealing with the chords of the opening section. I asked his opinion on the issue. He concurred with the 'passing note' or 'accent' approach to the E chord of the first two lines (which several of you have been pointing out), although he thought that on "...was our..." (first line) and "...habit too..." (second line), it sounded like an F# with an E bass. The way he explained it to me was that you should "think lines", rather than look for chords. "Remember Schoenberg's advice", he counselled; " 'always watch the bass line'." Further, he thought the chords for the third line went from F#9 to E6, although the F#9 might be F#m9 ("sounds very ambiguous", he explained); and the chords for the sixth line were "definitely F#m7 to E6. As far as the second section (beginning with "...At least we tried...") is concerned, he felt the C# is better called a C# with a change from E to G# is an example, he added, of a "key change via the mediant", a favourite device, apparently, of Schubert. So, with that in mind, this is *his* version of the section under discussion: E F#/E E If that was our goodbye kiss E F#/E E Seems a habit too good to miss F#9 E6 Once more for the memory E F#/E E Hit the heights too well that time E F# E6 To leave it there would be a crime F#m7 E6 Seems more like beginning to me. This investigation of the song over the last four or five days has really made my week. I've been humming the song all day! Now, back to the fretboard, to see if I can wrap my fingers around those chords! all the best, Clive Baugh 4 Dorset Place Hamilton, Ontario, L8S 3T6 cbaugh@netaccess.on.ca From: sallitt@netcom.com (Dan Sallitt) Date: Mon, 27 May 1996 09:13:56 -0400 Subject: Re: TGOYW chords? > So, does anyone know the chords to "The Ghost of You Walks"? The > transition from the verse to the bridge is gorgeous; if no one > has the chords, does anyone know what that particular change is? Do you mean the transition right before "At least we tried...."? I haven't really worked on the song, but it starts in E, and the first part basically goes back and forth between E and F#m (or possibly F#m7). There's a distinctive accent on the E chord - it's probably more complicated than just inserting an A# note into the chord, but you can fake it that way. Then, just before "At least we tried," the transition chords are F# (major this time) and G#. The effect is that the song seems to have transitioned to the key of G# for the "At least we tried" section. Something else funny happens at "Blue murder" - it looks as if that section starts on an Fm chord. Anyway, I hope that gives you something to work with. - Dan (sallitt@netcom.com) From: Noam Newman Date: Tue, 28 May 1996 06:19:28 +0300 (EET DST) Subject: Re: TGOYW chords? On Mon, 27 May 1996, Ken Bays wrote: > > So, does anyone know the chords to "The Ghost of You Walks"? The > transition from the verse to the bridge is gorgeous; if no one > > has the chords, does anyone know what that particular change is? > > Ken > kbays@nyx.net > As has been written by Dan Sallitt, the song starts in E, and the verse part is basically E/F#m. The transition is to G# (major); there are a few bars of G#/C#/D#, and then G#/C. Then Fm/C#/Fm/C#/G# and from there back to E. It's a lot easier to play than it seems. I spent one evening playing 'Nude' on the CD and accompanying it on the guitar; my wife thought it was me playing, not RT! If anyone wants to know how to play any of the 'Nude' songs, let me know. No'am mfurman@dial.pipex.com (Mark) I'm a new member of this list (hi!), so this is probably sticking my foot in my mouth up to the knee, but let's have a go. Ghost of You Walks: The verse is in E and the chorus goes up to G#. RT plays it with DADGBE tuning and a capo at the 2nd fret. So if you ignore the capo for fingering purposes (i.e. assume the capo is the nut), it's like verse in D, chorus in F#. (The rest of this note takes this approach.) The chords in the verse alternate between D (including an F# note on the 4th string) and E (with D bass, and including a G# note). So the great sound comes from the G# in the E chord, which is not a "normal" note in the standard scale of D. Then there's an Em (on "Once more for the memory"). For the chorus he slides the D chord fingering shape up the fretboard by four frets (with a brief stop first, for two beats, at two frets up, i.e. the chord of E), and plays the chords F#, B/D#, C# using a barre at the 4th fret (remember, I'm ignoring the capo, so it's really the 6th fret) in the shapes used for D, G/B, A. Hope this helps. It sounds right to the record, and I've observed him doing this in concert.