Elephant Chords
by Jason Isbell214,047 views, added to favorites 10,522 times
| Difficulty: | intermediate |
|---|---|
| Tuning: | E A D G B E |
| Capo: | 5th fret |
Chords
Strumming
EditIs this strumming pattern correct?
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Song: Elephant
Artist: Jason Isbell
Album: Southeastern
Tabbed by: Bryce Kujala, bryce@brycekujala.com
Capo V
[Chords] (relative to capo):
Em7 G6 A7sus4 Cadd9 Dsus2 Dsus2/F#
e|---0---0-----0------0------0--------0-----|
B|---3---3-----3------3------3--------3-----|
G|---0---0-----0------0------2--------2-----|
D|---0---0-----2------2------0--------0-----|
A|---2---2-----0------3------x--------x-----|
E|---0---3-----x------x------x--------2-----|
(Please don't tell my college music professors if I got any of those chord name wrong.)
It sounds like he is doing some hammer-ons with the A string on the Em7 and the
low E string on the G6. Listen to the record for the timing. Let me know if I got anything wrong.
[Intro]
Em7 G6 A7sus4 x4
[Verse 1]
Em7 G6 A7sus4
She said Andy you're better than your past,
Em7 G6 A7sus4
winked at me and drained her glass,
Em7 G6 A7sus4 Em7 G6 A7sus4
cross-legged on the barstool, like nobody sits anymore.
Em7 G6 A7sus4
She said Andy you're taking me home,
Em7 G6 A7sus4
but I knew she planned to sleep alone.
Em7 G6 A7sus4 Em7 G6 A7sus4
I'd carry her to bed and sweep up the hair from the floor
[Chorus]
Cadd9 Dsus2
If I had fucked her before she got sick
G6 Dsus2/F# Em7
I'd never hear the end of it
Cadd9 Dsus2 Em7
she don't have the spirit for that now
Cadd9 Dsus2
We just drink our drinks and laugh out loud,
G6 Dsus2/F# Em7
bitch about the weekend crowd,
Cadd9 Dsus2 Em7 G6 A7sus4
and try to ignore the elephant somehow
Em7 G6 A7sus4
somehow
Em7 G6 A7sus4 x2
[Verse]
Em7 G6 A7sus4
She said Andy you crack me up,
Em7 G6 A7sus4
Seagram's in a coffee cup,
Em7 G6 A7sus4 Em7 G6 A7sus4
sharecropper eyes and her hair almost all gone.
Em7 G6 A7sus4
When she was drunk she made cancer jokes,
Em7 G6 A7sus4
she made up her own doctor's notes,
Em7 G6 A7sus4 Em7 G6 A7sus4
surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone.
[Chorus]
Cadd9 Dsus2
I'd sing her classic country songs
G6 Dsus2/F# Em7
and she'd get high and sing along.
Cadd9 Dsus2 Em7
She don't have much voice to sing with now
Cadd9 Dsus2
We'd burn these joints in effigy,
G6 Dsus2/F# Em7
cry about what we used to be,
Cadd9 Dsus2 Em7 G6 A7sus4
and try to ignore the elephant somehow.
Em7 G6 A7sus4
Somehow
[Chorus]
Cadd9 Dsus2
I buried her a thousand times,
G6 Dsus2/F# Em7
given up my place in line,
Cadd9 Dsus2 Em7
but I don't give a damn about that now
Cadd9 Dsus2
There's one thing that's real clear to me,
G6 Dsus2/F# Em7
no one dies with dignity.
Cadd9 Dsus2 Em7
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.
Cadd9 Dsus2 Em7
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.
Cadd9 Dsus2 Em7 G6 A7sus4
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.
Somehow.
Em7 G6 A7sus4
Somehow.
X×
Elephant – Jason Isbell
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26 comments
Excellent work, one note is the recorded album version has capo on 5th, the live version on siriusXM is capo on 4th. The chords are bang on. Simple song and it is just so powerful, the whole album is a gem.
+21
Thanks for the chords. Now if someone could teach me how to sing the whole thing without crying I'll be good.
+10
Great tabs, great song, many thanks! I've played around with it and have a couple of alternatives to share, depending on what sounds good to your ear. One alternative is to drop the high e string to D - he keeps his ring finger on the B string on D (3) the whole song, so dropping e string to D basically gives you a "double D" sound, which is kinda cool. The other thing I've tried is (keeping the high e string at E), during the chorus, put your pinky finger on 3 on the e string (play a G) for all but the last Em7. So the Cadd9 becomes x32033, Dsus2 is xx0233, etc. But drop it for the Em7 - play it as is. Just a couple little twists that might sound good to you, might not. Just thought I'd throw them out to everyone in appreciation of this great song, album, artist, and especially thanks to Bryce for these tabs!!
+6