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Van der Graaf Generator - The Undercover Man
from the album Godbluff (1975).
Transcribed by Cory (coryp23@gmail.com), July 2010
F#m F# sus E D C#m
--2-----2-----4-----2-------|
--2-----2-----5-----3----5--|
--2-----4-----4-----2----6--|
--4-----4-----6-----0----6--|
-------------------------4--|
----------------------------|
F#m F#sus
Here at the glass -
F#m F#sus
all the usual problems, all the habitual farce.
F#m F#sus
You ask, in uncertain voice,
F#m
what you should do,
E D
as if there were a choice but to carry on
C#m
miming the song
F#m
and hope that it all works out right.
F#sus
Tonight it all seems so strange -
F#m/A F#sus/Ab
my spirit feels rigid, my body deranged;
F#m F#sus
still that's only from one point of view
F#m/A E
and we can't have illusion between me and you,
D C#m
my constant friend, ever close at hand -
F#m
you and the undercover man.
[E F#]E/G# B/D#
---------0----------------|
---------0-------------4--|
---------1-------------4--|
---------2-------------4--|
-----------------------6--|
-0-2--4-------------------|
I re flect: 'It's very strange
D
to be going through this change
G
with no idea of what it's all been about
[E F G A B C#]Bb/D Bb B5
----------------------------| --------|
-------------------------3--| --3--3--|
-------------------------3--| --3--3--|
-------------------------3--| --3--2--|
--------------0--2----4--5--| --1--1--|
--0----1--3-----------------| --------|
[E F G A B C#]Bb/D
except in the context of time...'
Bb B5 C
Oh, but I shirk it, I've half a mind not to work it all out.
D C C#dim
------------|
--7---5--5--|
--7---5--3--|
--7---5--5--|
--5---3--4--|
------------|
D G A
Is this madness just the recurring wave of total emotion,
D G A
or a hide for the undercover man,
D G A
or a litany - all the signs are there of fervent devotion -
D C C Cmaj7 C C Cmaj7 F
----------------8--7------------8---7------5--|
-------7----5---5--5-----8------5---5------6--|
-------7----5---5--5-----9------5---5------5--|
-------7----5---5--5-----10-----5---5------7--|
-------5----3------------10-------------------|
-------------------------8--------------------|
or the cracking of the dam?
C Cmaj7 C C Cmaj7 F
F#dim Adim Cdim Ebdim Em
---------------------------------------------|
-----1-------4---7---------------10-------8--|
-----2-------5---8---------------11-------9--|
-----1-------4---7---------------10-------9--|
------------------------------------------7--|
-----2-------5---8---------------11----------|
It's cracked; smashed and bursting over you,
D C
there was no reason to expect such disaster.
B Em EmMaj7 G/D A/C#
-----7--| ---7--| --3-----5--|
-7---8--| ---8--| --3-----5--|
-8---9--| ---8--| --4-----6--|
-9------| ------| --5--------|
-9---7--| ---6--| --5-----4--|
-7------| ------| -----------|
B Em
Now, panicking, you burst for air,
EmMaj7
drowning, you know you care
G/D A/C#
for nothing and no-one but yourself
G
and would deny even this hand
Bm D A G
which stretches out towards you to help.
Gmaj7 Cmaj7 C B
--------------------------------------------------------|
------------3-----------------5--------------5-------4--|
------------4-----------------4--------------5-------4--|
------------4-----------------5--------------5-------4--|
------------------------------3--------------3-------2--|
------------3-------------------------------------------|
But would I leave you in this moment of your trial?
Gmaj7 Cmaj7 C B
Is it my fault that I'm here to see you crying?
Am Am+ Am
------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------1------------1---------------------1--|
--------------------2------------2---------------------2----|
------------------2------------3---------------------2------|
--------------r-0----------r-0-------------------r-0--------|
------------------------------------------------------------|
These phantom figures all around you should have told you,
Am+ G
you should have found out by now,
C
if you hadn't gone and tried to do it all by yourself.
Ab Bb C
C#5 D5 Eb9
-------------|
----------6--|
--6--7----6--|
--6--7----5--|
--4--5----6--|
-------------|
Sax solo over F minor riff
[C# Eb] E B/D# D
Ev-en now we are not lost: if you look out at the night
G
you'll see the colours and the lights seem to say
[E F G A Bb C]Bb/D Bb
people are not far a-way, at least in distance,
B5
and it's only our own dumb resistance
C
that's making us stay.
D C C#dim
D G A
When the madness comes, let it flood on down and over me sweetly,
D G A
let it drown the parts of me weak and blessed and damned,
D G A
let it slake my life, let it take my soul and living completely,
D C C Cmaj7 C
let it be who I am.
A D G A
There may not be time for us all to run in tandem together -
D G A
the horizon calls with its parallel lines.
D G A
It may not be right for you to have and hold in one way forever
D C C Cmaj7 C C Cmaj7 F
and yet you still have time,
C Cmaj7 C C Cmaj7 F
you still have time.
