Lilac Wine Chords

by Jeff Buckley
79,741 views, added to favorites 1,165 times
Difficulty: intermediate
Capo: no capo
Author DavidMikeyWard [a] 72.
1 contributor total, last edit on Nov 11, 2016
We have an official Lilac Wine tab made by UG professional guitarists.
Check out the tab

Chords

D7
D
Gm
Eb
Cm
Gdim
C
G
G7
Dm
Am7

Strumming

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Lilac Wine
 
(written by J. Shelton)
 
LILAC WINE -- Chord Chart and Tab
[Originally posted by Michael Harris, May 20 1996]
 
** "LILAC WINE" CHORD CHART **
 
This is my user-friendly chord map to "LW".  It is not too far from John
Pollock's earlier tab of this, but there are some variations,
particularly
 
the diminished chord and the D7 instead of D.
 
Verse
Gm
I lost myself on a cool damp night
Eb
Gave myself in that misty light
D7                  Cm
Was hypnotized by a strange delight
D7            Gm
Under a lilac tree
Gm
I made wine from the lilac tree
Eb
Put my heart in its recipe
Cm(*)
It makes me see what I want to see...
D7                    Gm
And be what I want to be
Gdim                     C
When I think more than I want to think
Cm                       Gm
Do things I never should do
Gdim                     C
I drink much more than I ought to drink
Cm                       G       D7
Because I brings me back you...
 
[Instrumental] G      G7
 
Chorus
G     G7      C         D7             G            G7
Lilac wine is sweet and heady, like my love
C           Dm G  C         Dm     G       C
Lilac wine,       I feel unsteady, like my love
Eb                            D7
Listen to me... I cannot see clearly
D7                          Am7     D7
Isn't that she coming to me nearly here?
 
And repeat as necessary.
The final progression is just:
 
G   G7           C    D7            G         G7
  Lilac Wine, I feel unready for my love
           C    Cm    D7       G
I feel unready       for my love...
 
 
[Notes]
>The C minor chord marked with the * is actually a bit more involved
(complicated?) if you look at the tab, as it has an A in the bass.  This
actually makes it, I think, an "A minor 7 diminished 5", but don't quote me!!
>Diagrams for the G diminished chord and the Am7dim5 are below:
alternatively see the tab.
>To get the "muted jazzy feel" John Pollock referred to in his post,
without being confined to barre chords (which are difficult and also are
not what I have tabbed out below for the most part), I suggest using the
thumb and fingers of the right (picking) hand rather than a plectrum, to
"stroke" the strings.
 
Chords
 
     G diminished                    Am7dim5 I think
e|  |---|---|-4-|---|              |---|---|---|---|
B|  |---|-2-|---|---|              |---|-1-|---|---|
G|  |---|---|-3-|---|              |---|---|-4-|---|
D|  |---|-1-|---|---|              |---|---|-3-|---|
A|  |---|---|---|---|              |(1)|---|---|---|
E|  |---|---|---|---|              |---|---|-2-|---|
     2   3   4    5                 3   4   5    6
 
                                 [to make this a Cminor, just play the (1)                                  on
                                  the 5th string rather than the 2 on the
                                  6th, OK]
 
** "LILAC WINE" COMPLETE TAB **
This is actually fairly easy and quite fun to play.  As best I can
figure
it, this is what I think is actually played on the "Grace" album.  At
least, it's pretty darn close...
 
Standard tuning!!  (What a shock!)  I'm just going to tab out the
individual chords, not the rhythm or anything.  Y'all can figure that out
yourselves. (If you are training your ear, a good exercise is to figure
out which chord below goes where in the song.)
 
 *[Introduction]
e|--3----------------------------------------|
B|--3---4---3---4---3---3---4---4---3---3----|
G|--3---0---5---5---5---3---0---5---5---3----|
D|--5---5---4---5---4---5---5---5---4---5----|
A|--5---6---5---3---5---5---6---X---5---5----|
E|------------------------------5------------|
 
e|---4---------------4--------------------|
B|---3---5---4---3---3---5---4------------|
G|---4---5---5---3---4---5---5------------|
D|---3---5---5---5---3---5---5---5---4----|
A|-------3---3---5-------3---3---5---5----|
E|----------------------------------------|
 
*"Lilac wine..." bit
 
e|---3---3---0---2---3---3---0---1---3---0----|
B|---0---0---1---1---0---0---1---3---0---1----|
G|---0---0---0---2---0---0---0---2---0---0----|
D|---0---0---2---0---0---0---2---0---0---2----|
A|---2---2---3-------2---2---3-------2---3----|
E|---3---1---X---X---3---1---X-------3--------|
 
e|---1---3---0-----------------------|
B|---3---0---1---8---3---5---3-------|
G|---2---0---0---8---5---5---5-------|
D|---0---0---2---8---4---5---4-------|
A|-------2---3---6---5---7---5-------|
E|-------3---------------------------|
 
Now, I'll leave the final progression up to you since it's just a
variation on the above, and the chord chart I provided gives the
essential
information.
The one variation through the song that might be worth noting is that on
the second run through, when we get to "sweet and heady", halfway
through
the D7 bit, Jeff adds a suspension which should be pretty apparent when
you hear it (I'm providing the "rhythm" in the tab below):
 
e|-----2--2--3--3---|
B|-----1--1--1--1---|
G|-----2--2--2--2---|
D|-----0--0--0--0---|
A|------------------|
E|------------------|
 
Happy playing.
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Lilac Wine – Jeff Buckley
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7 comments
coolikedat99
Even without being an emotional person, I nearly tear up playing this. Great tab for a tremendous song.
0
Yalo
Amazing! Thanks :)
0
bradmanfx
Your G diminished chord chart has G# F, B D G#
0