05_biabh/its_alright_ma_im_only_bleeding.htm

   1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
   2 <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
   3 "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
   4 <html lang="en" xml:lang="en" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
   5
   6 <head>
   7 <title>It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)</title>
   8 <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../css/general.css" />
   9 </head>
  10
  11 <body>
  12
  13 <h1 class="songtitle">It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)</h1>
  14
  15
  16 <p>Words and music Bob Dylan<br />
  17 Released on <a class="recordlink" href="index.htm">Bringing It All Back Home</a> (1966) and in live versions on <a class="recordlink" href="../15_beforetheflood/index.htm">Before the Flood</a> (1974), <a class="recordlink" href="../21_budokan/index.htm">Budokan</a> (1978) and <a class="recordlink" href="../43_bs6/index.htm">Live 1964</a> (2004)<br /></p>
  18
  19 <p>Tabbed by Eyolf &Oslash;strem</p>
  20
  21 <hr />
  22
  23 <h2 class="songversion">Album version</h2>
  24
  25 <p>Dropped D tuning (D-A-d-g-b-e')<br />
  26 capo 2nd fret (sounding key E minor)</p>
  27
  28 <p>Chords:</p>
  29 <pre class="chords">
  30 D     000232
  31 G/b   0<strong>2</strong>003x (or -0 or -3)
  32 Csus2 030030
  33 Bb6   01003x
  34 F/d   000211
  35 G/d   000433
  36 A     202220
  37 </pre>
  38 <pre class="tab">
  39    :   .   .   .      :   .   .   .
  40 |--1--/3-------1----|(2)--------------|-
  41 |.-1--/3-------1----|-3---3-3-3-3-3--.|-
  42 |--2--/4-------2----|-2---2-2-2-2-2---|-
  43 |--0---0-------0----|-0---0-0-0-0-0---|-
  44 |.-0---0-------0----|-0---0-0-0-0-0--.|-
  45 |--0---0-------0----|-0---0-0-0-0-0---|-
  46 </pre>
  47
  48 <pre class="verse">
  49 G/b
  50 Darkness at the break of noon
  51 D
  52 Shadows even the silver spoon
  53     Csus2
  54 The handmade blade, the child's balloon
  55 G/b
  56 Eclipses both the sun and moon
  57    Bb6
  58 To understand you know too soon
  59                      D
  60 There is no sense in trying.
  61
  62 Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
  63 Suicide remarks are torn
  64 From the fool's gold mouthpiece
  65 The hollow horn plays wasted words
  66 Proves to warn
  67 That he not busy being born
  68 Is busy dying.
  69
  70 Temptation's page flies out the door
  71 You follow, find yourself at war
  72 Watch waterfalls of pity roar
  73 You feel to moan but unlike before
  74 You discover
  75 That you'd just be
  76 One more person crying.
  77 </pre>
  78
  79 <pre class="refrain">
  80          D           A
  81 So don't fear if you hear
  82   D                     G/b
  83 A foreign sound to your ear
  84 D    A  G/b   A            D
  85 It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.
  86 </pre>
  87
  88 <pre class="verse">
  89 As some warn victory, some downfall
  90 Private reasons great or small
  91 Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
  92 To make all that should be killed to crawl
  93 While others say don't hate nothing at all
  94 Except hatred.
  95
  96 Disillusioned words like bullets bark
  97 As human gods aim for their mark
  98 Made everything from toy guns that spark
  99 To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
 100 It's easy to see without looking too far
 101 That not much
 102 Is really sacred.
 103
 104 While preachers preach of evil fates
 105 Teachers teach that knowledge waits
 106 Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
 107 Goodness hides behind its gates
 108 But even the president of the United States
 109 Sometimes must have
 110 To stand naked.
 111 </pre>
 112
 113 <pre class="refrain">
 114 An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
 115 It's only people's games that you got to dodge
 116 And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
 117 </pre>
 118
 119 <pre class="verse">
 120 Advertising signs that con you
 121 Into thinking you're the one
 122 That can do what's never been done
 123 That can win what's never been won
 124 Meantime life outside goes on
 125 All around you.
 126
 127 You lose yourself, you reappear
 128 You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
 129 Alone you stand with nobody near
 130 When a trembling distant voice, unclear
 131 Startles your sleeping ears to hear
 132 That somebody thinks
 133 They really found you.
 134
 135 A question in your nerves is lit
 136 Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
 137 Insure you not to quit
 138 To keep it in your mind and not fergit
 139 That it is not he or she or them or it
 140 That you belong to.
 141 </pre>
 142
 143 <pre class="refrain">
 144 Although the masters make the rules
 145 For the wise men and the fools
 146 I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
 147 </pre>
 148
 149 <pre class="verse">
 150 For them that must obey authority
 151 That they do not respect in any degree
 152 Who despise their jobs, their destinies
 153 Speak jealously of them that are free
 154 Cultivate their flowers to be
 155 Nothing more than something
 156 They invest in.
 157
 158 While some on principles baptized
 159 To strict party platform ties
 160 Social clubs in drag disguise
 161 Outsiders they can freely criticize
 162 Tell nothing except who to idolize
 163 And then say God bless him.
 164
 165 While one who sings with his tongue on fire
 166 Gargles in the rat race choir
 167 Bent out of shape from society's pliers
 168 Cares not to come up any higher
 169 But rather get you down in the hole
 170 That he's in.
 171 </pre>
 172
 173 <pre class="refrain">
 174 But I mean no harm nor put fault
 175 On anyone that lives in a vault
 176 But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
 177 </pre>
 178
 179 <pre class="verse">
 180 Old lady judges watch people in pairs
 181 Limited in sex, they dare
 182 To push fake morals, insult and stare
 183 While money doesn't talk, it swears
 184 Obscenity, who really cares Propaganda, all is phony.
 185
 186 While them that defend what they cannot see
 187 With a killer's pride, security
 188 It blows the minds most bitterly
 189 For them that think death's honesty
 190 Won't fall upon them naturally
 191 Life sometimes
 192 Must get lonely.
 193
 194 My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
 195 False gods, I scuff
 196 At pettiness which plays so rough
 197 Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
 198 Kick my legs to crash it off
 199 Say okay, I have had enough
 200 What else can you show me?
 201 </pre>
 202
 203 <pre class="refrain">
 204 And if my thought-dreams could be seen
 205 They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
 206 But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.
 207 </pre>
 208
 209 <hr />
 210
 211 <h2 class="songversion">Before the Flood version</h2>
 212
 213 <p>Same as above, except that the fourth verse is omitted, and that the
 214 audience is more noisy after the second.</p>
 215
 216 <hr />
 217
 218 <h2 class="songversion">Budokan version</h2>
 219
 220 <p>It's hard to tell if there is an A major involved in the A minor as
 221 well. There probably is.</p>
 222
 223 <pre class="verse">
 224 |: Am Am    C   D C  :|
 225
 226 Am
 227   Darkness at the break of noon
 228 C
 229   Shadows even the silver spoon
 230     D
 231 The handmade blade, the child's balloon
 232 F
 233 Eclipses both the sun and moon
 234    E
 235 To understand you know too soon
 236                      Am Am
 237 There is no sense in trying.
 238
 239 ...
 240 </pre>
 241
 242 <pre class="refrain">
 243          Am          E
 244 So don't fear if you hear
 245   A                     D
 246 A foreign sound to your ear
 247 A    E  D     D            Am Am
 248 It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.
 249
 250 ...
 251 </pre>
 252
 253 <hr />
 254
 255 <h2 class="songversion">30th Anniversary Celebration version</h2>
 256
 257 <p>The song itself is played as the album version, but there is an
 258 instrumental verse at the end, which is worth looking at.</p>
 259
 260 <p>Chords for the final instrumental verse:</p>
 261 <pre class="tab">
 262   G/d  D   C   G   Bb  D
 263 |-/7--(7)--0---3---6---2------
 264 |-/8---7---1---3---6---3------
 265 |-/7---7---0---4---7---2------
 266 |--0---0---2---5---8---0------
 267 |----------3---5---8---0------
 268 |----------------------0------
 269 </pre>
 270 <pre class="tab">
 271   D                 A                                 D
 272   : , . , . , . ,   :   ,   .   ,   .   ,   .   ,     :   .   .   .
 273 |-5---------------|---------------------------------|-2-------5-------|
 274 |-7---------------|-2-------------------------------|-3-------7-------|
 275 |-7---------------|-2-------------------------------|-2-------7-------|
 276 |-7---------------|-2-----------2-----------2-------|-0---------------|
 277 |-0---------------|-0-------3h4-----0---3h4---------|-0---------------|
 278 |-0---------------|---------------------------------|-0---------------|
 279 </pre>
 280 <pre class="tab">
 281   G                 D   A   D   G/b
 282   :   .   .   .     :   .   .   .        .   .   .
 283 |-3---------------|-2---0---2---3--------3-3---------------------------|
 284 |-3---------------|-3---2---3---3--------3-3---------------------------|
 285 |-4---------------|-2---2---2---0--------0-0---------------------------|
 286 |-----------------|-------------0--------0-0-0-2-4-2---0-2-0---2-4-2-0-|
 287 |-----------------|-0---0---0---2--------2-2---------2-------2-0-0-0-0-|
 288 |-----------------|----------------------------------------------------|
 289 </pre>
 290 <pre class="tab">
 291   D
 292
 293 |---------------10-10-10-10-10-|
 294 |-/7-7-7-7--/7--7--7--7--7--7--|
 295 |-/7-7-7-7--/7--7--7--7--7--7--|
 296 |-/7-7-7-7--/7--7--7--7--7--7--|
 297 |-/9-9-9-9------------------9--|
 298 |---------------------------0--|
 299 </pre>
 300 </body></html>