A cool and educational song by Al Stewart. Laurence Juber does some incredible acoustic
guitar work, unfortunately all I have here are the chords!
Capo: 2
Intro:
C Cm G F x2 (single strum)
C G F C G C x2
C G
I'm here sitting in the wreck of Europe
F
With a map of Europe
C G C
Spread out in a hall of Versailles
C G F
And every single nationality and principality
C G C
have come for a piece of the pie
C G
I'm sitting in the wreck of Europe
F
With a map of Europe
C G C
And the lines and the borders are gone
C G
We've got to do this jigsaw puzzle
F
It's an awful muddle
C G C
But somehow we've got to go on
C7 F
**Lawrence of Arabia is waiting in the wings
Fm
He's got some Arab sheikhs and kings
C G C
And we're in debt to them somehow
C7 F
Lawrence of Arabia has got this perfect vision
Fm
Gonna sell him down the river
C G F C G C
There's no time for him now
C G
I think I'm gonna take a piece of Russia
F
And a Piece of Germany
C G C
And give them to Poland again
C G F
I'll put together Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia
C G C
And hope that is how they'll remain
C G
Then I'll take a bit of Turkey
F
Then a lot of Turkey
C G C
This is all quite a heady affair
C G
There's Persia and Iraq to pick up
F
And there's Churchill's hiccup
C G C
And we can't leave it up in the air
C7 F
Woodrow Wilson waves his fourteen points around
Fm
And says "The time to act is now
C G C
Won't get this opportunity again"
C7 F
Woodrow Wilson has his fourteen points
Fm
But Clemenceau turns to Lloyd George
And says "You know that
C G F C G C
God himself had only ten"
C G
Today I'm carried by a league of notions
F
By a league of notions
C G C
I don't think I quite understand
C G
I only know from this commotion
F
There's a chance that we could turn
C G C
The world in the palm of our hands
C7 F
Voices in the corridors of power
Fm
Candles burning hour by hour
C G C
Still you know that to the victors go the spoils
C7 F
Such a great responsibility to make it fair
Fm
And there must be some reparations now
C G F C G C
And don't forget the oil
C G
Today I'm carried by a league of notions
F
By a league of notions
C G C
I don't think I quite understand
C G
I only know from this commotion
F
There's a chance that we could turn
C G C
The world in the palm of our hands
C G
Pax vobiscum
F C G C
Wo-Oh, Pax vobiscum
(End on C)
**The strumming pattern changes here. Pluck quarter notes on the bass line and single,
percussive strums after each plucked note. Go back to regular strumming at the end of
the phrase (after the Fm, for the C G C)