I Was Young When I Left Home by Bob Dylan, tabs and chords at PlayUkuleleNET

I Was Young When I Left Home

Biography:

Bob Dylan (born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, United States) is an American musician, poet and artist whose position in popular culture is unique.

Dylan started his musical odyssey in 1959 when he began playing in Dinkytown, Minneapolis while attending the University of Minnesota. Shortly after starting to play he changed his stage name to Bob Dylan, after being influenced by the poetry of Dylan Thomas before legally changing his name in 1962.

Read more on Last.fm

Other songs:

Share this tab

Four years of hard work!

This month of May we celebrated four years on the air. We continue working on the dissemination of this wonderful instrument, thank you for participating in our story!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I Was Young When I Left Home – Bob Dylan
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Written by: Bob Dylan
Recorded in 1961 (Minnesota Tape)
Released on the Bonus CD of “Love and Theft” (2001) and
"The Bootleg Series, Vol 7: No Direction Home" (2005)

Tabbed by: maguri
Tuning: D-G-D-G-B-d + capo 1st fret / Standard tuning

I don't really know whether a capo is used or whether the strings are
tuned to the key one hears. For the sake of convenience, I’d suggest “Open G”
and then use a capo to match Dylan’s recording (D-G-D-G-B-d leaves three strings
as they are in standard tuning whereas one would have to retune all six strings
for Eb-Ab-Eb-Ab-C-Eb).

If you don't want to take the trouble of re-tuning the strings, I added voicings
for standard tuning in the CHORDS section below.

Dylan uses a Travis picking with many variations. I include a tab of the basic
riff below that can be used to figure out a picking accompaniment or a version
using a plectrum, too.

capo: 1st fret
play: G
key: Ab

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Basic Pattern
G Cadd9
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
d |0---------0-----|----------------|----------------|------0---------|
B 1/3---------3-----|---------------1/3-----1---0—-(1)|------1---1-----|
G 2/4-----4-------4-|---------------2/4-----2---0---0-|------0---0-----|
D |0---------------|0---------------|0-------------2-|----------2-----|
G |0---------------|0---------------|0---------------|----------------|
D |----------------|----------------|----------------|----------------|
D7
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
d |------0---------|----------------|----------------|
B |1-----1---1-----|1---------------|----------1-----|
G |0-----0---0-----|2---------------|------0---2-----|
D |2---------2-----|0---------------|------0---------|
G |0---------------|0---------------|----------------|
D |----------------|----------------|----------------|
G
1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +
d |0-----0---------|------0---------|
B 1/3-----3---------|------3---------|
G 2/4---------4-----|4---------4-----|
D |0---------0-----|0---------0-----|
G |0---------------|0---------------|
D |----------------|----------------|

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHORDS

Because of the open tuning almost all the chords have a “g” as their root

D-G-D-G-B-d E-A-D-G-B-e
G x-0-0-4-3-0 and x-0-0-0-0-0-0 3-x-0-0-0-3
C x-0-2-0-1-0 (= Cadd9/G) 3-x-2-0-1-3 (= C/G)
D7sus4 x-0-0-2-1-0 (= D7sus4/G) 3-x-0-2-1-3 (= D7sus4/G)
or 0-0-0-2-1-0 (= D7sus4)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Intro]
| G | % | % | C | % | D7sus4 | % | G | % |
| G | % |

[Verse 1]
G
I was young when I left home
C
But I been out a-ramblin’ ‘round
D7sus4 D7sus4
And I never wrote a letter to my home
G
To my home
C
Lord, to my home
D7sus4 G
And I never wrote a letter to my home

[Verse 2]
G
It was just the other day
C
I was bringing home my pay
D7sus4 D7sus4
When I met an old friend I used to know
G
Said your mother’s dead and gone
C
Baby sister’s all gone wrong
D7sus4 G
And your daddy needs you home right away

[Verse 3]
G
Not a shirt on my back
C
Not a penny on my name
D7sus4 D7sus4
Well I can’t go home this-a-way
G
This-a-way
C
Lord, Lord, Lord
D7sus4 G
And I can’t go home this-a-way

[Interlude]
| G | % | % | C | % | D7sus4 | % | G | % |
| G | % |

[Verse 4]
G
If you miss the train I’m on
C
Count the days I’m gone
D7sus4 D7sus4
You will hear that whistle blow a hundred miles
G
A hundred miles, honey baby
C
Lord Lord Lord
D7sus4 G
And you’ll hear that whistle blow a hundred miles

[Verse 5]
G
I’m playing on a track
C
Ma would come and whoop me back
D7sus4 D7sus4
On them trestles down by old Jim McKay’s
G
When I pay the debt I owe
C
To the commissary store
D7sus4 G
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home
G
Go home
C
Lord Lord Lord
D7sus4 G
I will pawn my watch and chain and go home

[Interlude]
| G | % | % | C | % | D7sus4 | % | G | % |
| G | % |

[Verse 6]
G
Used to tell Ma sometimes
C
When I see them riding blinds
D7sus4 D7sus4
Gonna make me a home out in the wind
G
In the wind
C
Lord in the wind
D7sus4 G
Make me a home out in the wind

[Verse 7]
G
I don’t like it in the wind
C
Wanna go back home again
D7sus4 G
But I can’t go home this-a-way
G
This-a-way
C
Lord Lord Lord
D7sus4 G
And I can’t go home this-a-way

[Interlude]
| G | % | % | C | % | D7sus4 | % | G | % |
| G | % |

[Verse 8]
G
I was young when I left home
C
But I been out a-ramblin’ ‘round
D7sus4 D7sus4
And I never wrote a letter to my home
G
To my home
C
Lord Lord Lord
D7sus4 G
And I never wrote a letter to my home

[Coda]
| G | % | % | C | % | D7sus4 | % | G | G