Ghost of Thoreau - by Jason White (from the album Shades of Gray)
Mr. LaBoone helped me with this.....well...it's primarily his handy work. So,
thank you Mr. LaBoone.
Chord voicings used for this song:
E: 076450 C#m: x46654 G#m7: 464444
A: x07650 B: x24400 A (at the end of line 6): x02220
Tab for the main riff, played 4x in the intro and pretty much every time a line
ends with an E chord:
-0--------------------------|
-5--------------------------|
-4—-4h6-4-------------------|
-6---------4h6--4-----------|
-7--------------------------|
-0----------------0---------|
E C#m G#m7
I scoured the wasteland, scorched and seedy
A B E
Looking for the writing on the wall
E C#m G#m7
But all I found was some fool’s graffiti
A B E
On the door of a shithouse stall
C#m B A E
I crawled the miles between living and survival
C#m B A
Where priests and princes seldom go
E C#m G#m7
That’s how I came to my late arrival
A B E
At the house of the ghost of Thoreau
(All other verses follow the same chord progression as the first)
Out where the everclear kneels to kiss the wildwood
And caress the breast of Mother Earth
I stood like a scarecrow in the land of my childhood
And called out the demons of my birth
I screamed the question, “Why do we keep on guessing
At something we all already know?”
I wasn’t sure who I was addressing when
Up walked the ghost of Thoreau
Yes the wisdom of your kingdom has escaped my grasp
So don’t you come by unless you bring some
Answers to the questions I ask
I’ll bury them on a hillside greener than your money
Where your towers of greed can never grow
You’ll find me by the fire playing gin rummy
And drinking with the ghost of Thoreau
Instrumental (same chords as verses)
I’ve seen you flying high all across the jet stream
Escaping all you’ve laid to waste
Safe and secluded in your blue-blooded wet dream
With all bitter memories erased
Miles and miles above the huddling masses
And pointing at their ghettos down below
And when you come down you can kiss two asses
Mine and the ghost of Thoreau’s
NOTE: This song also sounds cool (and the main lick is easier to play, too) if you
put a Kyser-style capo on the 4th fret “upside down,” leaving the low E string
open. Then play all chords two whole steps lower:
C / Am / Em7 / F / G / C
C / Am / Em7 / F / G / C
Am / G / F / C / Am / G / F
C / Am / Em7 / F / G / C