The first time I heard this song, I knew I wanted to perform it. It’s great fun to play, and people always love hearing it.
Unfortunately, I went away and learned it without really listening to the original and as a consequence, learned it wrong. Not horribly wrong, mind you, and in my defence, it’s a rare melody that starts on the suspended fourth. Also, the opening figure that Richard Thompson plays is heavily based off the third, which is probably what was in my head once I started singing it.
Anyway, it’s not a verbatim cover (there are lots of those), but my interpretation, so I’ll claim a little artistic license, and hope I don’t offend too many ears.
Tuning is Double Drop D (DADGBD), with capo at fret 3, putting us in Bb. Chords here, and watch the companion video for a look at how I approached it:
These chord diagrams make more sense if you consider the capo at fret 3 to be the nut (making chord shapes a little more familiar), but if you’d prefer to think of it at actual pitch we’re talking Bb, Eb and F for our I, IV and V chords, and Cm for our ii. It’s further complicated by my being tuned down a halfstep in the video but I can’t change that now. It’s a bit of a fustercluck, I know. Sorry about that. Think in roman numerals* and it all stays manageable.
* if there’s interest, I’ll do a little primer on understanding chords by their position in the scale, rather than by name. It helps a lot, especially when you get into open tunings, where traditional chord shapes get a bit wiggly
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