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Joni Mitchell : Song To A Seagull
1968

  1. I Had A King
    +1
  2. Michael From Mountains
  3. Night In The City
    +1
  4. Marcie
  5. Nathan La Franeer

  6. Sisotowbell Lane
  7. The Dawntreader
  8. The Pirate Of Penance
  9. Song To A Seagull
    +1
  10. Cactus Tree
    +1

I Had A King

Tuning: DADEAD
Capo:
VII
[Show chord shapes]
Dadd4 054300 D 000100
Dm9 032100 Dsus4 x5030x
Dsus2 000000 Dm7/c x30100
 |
Dadd4
|
Dm9
|
Dadd4
|
Dm9
|
Dadd4
I had a king in a tenement castle
Dm9
Dsus2
Lately he's taken to painting the pastel walls brown
D
He's taken the curtains down
Dsus2
Dsus4
He's swept with the broom of contempt
Dm7/c
Dsus2
And the rooms have an empty ring
Dsus2
He's cleaned with the tears
Dm7/c
Dsus2
Of an actor who fears for the laughter's sting
Dsus4
I can't go back there anymore You know my keys won't fit the door
Dsus4
You know my thoughts don't fit the man
Dm9
Dadd4
Dm9
They never can, they never can I had a king dressed in drip-dry and paisley Lately he's taken to saying i'm crazy and blind He lives in another time Ladies in gingham still blush While he sings them of wars and wine But I in my leather and lace I can never become that kind I can't go back there anymore You know my keys won't fit the door You know my thoughts don't fit the man They never can they never can I had a king in a salt-rusted carriage Who carried me off to his country for marriage too soon Beware of the power of moons There's no one to blame No there's no one to name as a traitor here The king's on the road And the queen's in the grove till the end of the year I can't go back there anymore You know my keys won't fit the door You know my thoughts don't fit the man They never can they never can

Michael From Mountains

Tuning: FFCGAC
Michael wakes you up with sweets He takes you up streets, and the rain comes down Sidewalk markets locked up tight And umbrellas bright on a grey background There's oil in the puddles in taffeta patterns That run down the drain In colored arrangements That Michael will change with a stick that he found Michael from mountains Go where you will go to Know that I will know you Someday I may know you very well Michael brings you to a park He sings and it's dark when the clouds come by Yellow slickers up on swings Like puppets on strings hanging in the sky They'll splash home to suppers in wallpapered kitchens Their mothers will scold But Michael will hold you To keep away cold 'til the sidewalks are dry Michael from mountains Go where you will go to Know that I will know you Someday I may know you very well Michael leads you up the stairs He needs you to care and you know you do Cats come crying to the key And dry you will be in a towel or two There's rain in the window There's sun in the painting that smiles on the wall You want to know all But his mountains have called so you never do Michael from mountains Go where you will go to Know that I will know you Someday I may know you very well Someday I will know you very well

Night In The City

Tuning: DADF#AD (Open D)
Capo:
V
 Light up Light up Light up you lazy blue eyes Moon's up Night's up Taking the town by surprise Night time Night time Day left an hour ago City light time Must you get ready so slow There are places to come from and places to go Night in the City looks pretty to me Night in the City looks fine Music comes spilling out into the street Colours go flashing in time Take off, take off Take off your stay-at-home shoes Break off, shake off Chase off those stay-at-home blues Stairway, stairway Down to the crowds in the street They go their way Looking for faces to greet But we run on laughing with no one to meet Night in the City looks pretty to me Night in the City looks fine Music comes spilling out into the street Colours go waltzing in time

Marcie

Tuning: DGDGBD (Open G)
[Show chord shapes]
Gm7 x33030 D# x8888x Gmaj7 x44030
A7 x22022 D x77777 C* x55055
C6/9 x22010 C x55555 G* 505430
Cadd2 x02010 B x44444 G 000000
Gm7
A7
C6/9
G
Cadd2
G
Marcie in the quilt of flowers steps inside a candy store
Gm7
A7
C6/9
G
Cadd2
G
G
Cadd2
G
Reds are sweet and greens are sour, still no letter at her door
D#
D
C
B
So she'll wash her flower curtains, hang them in the wind to dry
Gm7
A7
C6/9
G
Cadd2
G
G
Cadd2
G
Dust her tables with his shirt and wave another day goodbye
G
Cadd2
G
G
Cadd2
G
Marcie's faucet needs a plumber, Marcie's sorrow needs a man Red is autumn, green is summer, greens are turning and the sand All along the ocean beaches stares up empty at the sky Marcie buys a bag of peaches, stops a postman passing by
Gmaj7
C*
And summer goes, falls to the sidewalk like string and brown paper
Gmaj7
Winter blows up from the river
C*
G*
A7
C6/9
G
Cadd2
G
Gm7
A7
C6/9
G
Cadd2
G
There's no one to to take her to the sea Marcie dresses warm, its snowing, takes a yellow cab uptown Red is stop and green's for going, sees a show and rides back down Down along the Hudson River, past the shipyards in the cold Still no letter's been delivered, still the winter's days unfold Like magazines fading in dusty grey attics and servers make a dream Dream back to summer And all he tells her: wait for me Marcie leaves and doesn't tell us, where, why she moved away Red is angry, green is jealous, that was all she had to say Someone thought they saw her Sunday, window-shopping in the rain Some heard she bought a one-way ticket and went west again

Nathan La Franeer

Tuning: DGDGBD (Open G)
I hired a coach to take me from confusion to the plane And though we shared a common space, I know I'll never meet again The driver with his eyebrows furrowed in the rearview mirror I read his name and it was plainly written, Nathan La Franeer I asked him would he hurry But we crawled the canyons slowly Through the buyers and the sellers Through the burglar bells and the wishing wells With gangs and girly shows The ghostly garden grows The cars and buses bustled through the bedlam of the day I looked through window-glass at streets And Nathan grumbled at the grey I saw an aging cripple selling Superman balloons The city grated through chrome-plate The clock struck slowly half-past-noon Through the tunnel tiled and turning Into daylight once again I am escaping Once again goodbye To symphonies and dirty trees With parks and plastic clothes The ghostly garden grows He asked me for a dollar more He cursed me to my face He hated everyone who paid to ride And share his common space I picked my bags up from the curb And stumbled to the door Another man reached out his hand Another hand reached out for more And I filled it full of silver And I left the fingers counting And the sky goes on forever Without meter maids and peace parades You feed it all your woes The ghostly garden grows You feed it all your woes The ghostly garden grows

Sisotowbell Lane

Tuning: CGDFCE
Capo:
II
 Sisotowbell Lane Noah, is fixing the pump in the rain He brings us no shame We always knew that he always knew Up over the hill Jovial neighbors come down when they will With stories to tell Sometimes they do Yes, sometimes we do We have a rocking chair Each of us rocks his share Eating muffin buns and berries By the steamy kitchen window Sometimes we do Our tongues turn blue Sisotowbell Lane Anywhere else now would seem very strange The seasons are changing Every day in every way Sometimes it is spring Sometimes it is not anything A poet can sing Sometimes we try Yes, we always try We have a rocking chair Some days we rock and stare At the woodlands and the grasslands And the badlands 'cross the river Sometimes we do We like the view Sisotowbell Lane Go to the city you'll come back again To wade through the grain You always do Yes, we always do Come back to the stars Sweet well water and pickling jars We'll lend you the car We always do Yes, sometimes we do We have a rocking chair Someone is always there Rocking rhythms while they're waiting With the candle in the window Sometimes we do We wait for you

The Dawntreader

Peridots and periwinkle blue medallions Gilded galleons spilled across the ocean floor Treasure somewhere in the sea and he will find where Never mind their questions, there's no answer for The roll of the harbor wake The songs that the rigging makes The taste of the spray he takes And he learns to give He aches and he learns to live He stakes all his silver On a promise to be free Mermaids live in colonies All his sea dreams come to me City satins left at home, I will not need them I believe him when he tells of loving me Something truthful in the sea your lies will find you "Leave behind your streets", he said, "And come to me" Come down from the neon nights Come down from the tourist sights Run down 'til the rain delights you You do not hide Sunlight will renew your pride Skin white by skin golden Like a promise to be free Dolphins playing in the sea All his sea dreams come to me Seabird I have seen you fly above the pilings I am smiling at your circles in the air I will come and sit by you while he lies sleeping Fold your fleet wings, I have brought some dreams to share A dream that you love someone A dream that the wars are done A dream that you tell no one but the grey sea They'll say that you're crazy And a dream of a baby Like a promise to be free Children laughing out to sea All his sea dreams come to me All his sea dreams come to me

The Pirate Of Penance

Tuning: DADFAD (Open Dm)
[Show chord shapes]
Dm 000000
D 000100
F# 444544
Cm6/9 001230
Bb 888988
C* xxx343 > xxx232 > xxx343 > xxx232
Dm
C*
The pirate anchored on a Wednesday
Dm
F#
And why he came to port I wonder
D
To see a lady, so my friends say
D
She dances for the sailors
Cm6/9
In a smoky cabaret bar underground
D
Down in a cellar in a harbour town I know he told her love was treasure And they would reap the fullest bounty He only comes to port for pleasure So when the winds of morning Blew the curtains in she woke and found he'd gone I saw his sails unfurling Thursday dawn
Dm
The pirate, he will sink you with a kiss He'll steal your heart and sail away (Saturday early we met in the cove near the forest)
Bb
He'll leave you drowning in the flotsam Of a broken promise in the bay (Dancing we wakened the dawn and the birds into chorus)
F#
He came again to see her Yes, I think they told me it was Saturday (Ask Penance Crane, she was out in her garden, she saw us)
D
I was at sea then, I didn't see them I don't believe what you are saying It isn't true, I hardly knew him Is this some game that you are playing? Go ask the dancer, she's the one who saw him last The one who drew him here He hasn't come to me since spring last year There was a time when he would Bring me silks and sandal-wood and Persian lace (Then came another "goodbye" and another "please don't go") And he would hold me close And tell my sailing stories by the fireplace (All night I dance and all day I keep watch with my sorrow) I was at sea, I tell you I was nowhere near the mentioned murder place (Searching for sails that don't come and I guess but I don't know)
D
Go ask the dancer
Dm
She knows the answer (I don't know) She knows the answer (I don't know)
Bb
She knows the answer (I don't know)

Song To A Seagull

Tuning: CGCGCE (Open C)
Fly silly seabird, no dreams can possess you No voices can blame you for sun on your wings My gentle relations have names they must call me For loving the freedom of all flying things My dreams with the seagulls fly, out of reach, out of cry I came to the city and lived like old Crusoe On an island of noise in a cobblestone sea And the beaches were concrete and the stars paid a light bill And the blossoms hung false on their store window trees My dreams with the seagulls fly, out of reach, out of cry Out of the city and down to the seaside To sun on my shoulders and wind in my hair But sandcastles crumble and hunger is human And humans are hungry for worlds they can't share My dreams with the seagulls fly, out of reach, out of cry I call to the seagull who dives to the waters And catches his silver-fine dinner alone Crying where are the footprints that danced on these beaches And the hands that cast wishes that sunk like a stone My dreams with the seagulls fly, out of reach, out of cry

Cactus Tree

Tuning: DADF#AD (Open D)
Capo:
IV
[Show chord shapes]
A/d 04030x D/a x04204
G/d 020100 A7* x02102 (no 3rd)
A/d
G/d
A/d
G/d
A/d
G/d
There's a man who's been out sailing in a decade full of dreams
A/d
G/d
D/a
A7*
And he takes her to his schooner and he treats her like a queen
A/d
G/d
A/d
G/d
Bearing beads from California with their amber stones and green
G/d
D
G/d
D
He has called her from the harbor, he has kissed her with his freedom
G/d
D
G/d
A7*
He has heard her off to starboard, in the breaking and the breathing
D/a
A7*
A/d
G/d
D
G/d
D
Of the water weeds, while she was busy being free There's a man who's climbed a mountain and he's calling out her name And he hopes her heart can hear three thousand miles, he calls again He can think her there beside him, he can miss her just the same He has missed her in the forest while he showed her all the flowers And the branches sang the chorus as he climbed the scaly towers Of a forest tree, while she was somewhere being free There's a man who's sent a letter and he's waiting for reply He has asked her of her travels, since the day they said goodbye He writes, wish you were beside me, we can make it if we try He has seen her at the office, with her name on all his papers Through the sharing of the profits he will find it hard to shake her From his memory, and she's so busy being free There's a lady in the city and she thinks she loves them all There's the one who's thinking of her, there's the one who sometimes calls There's the one who writes her letters with his facts and figures scrawl She has brought them to her senses, they have laughed inside her laughter Now she rallies her defenses, for she fears that one will ask her For eternity, and she's so busy being free There's a man who sends her medals, he is bleeding from the war There's a jouster and a jester and a man who owns a store There's a drummer and a dreamer, and you know there may be more She will love them when she sees them, they will lose her if they follow And she only means to please them and her heart is full and hollow Like a cactus tree, while she's so busy being free