Guitar Tabs, Chords and Lyrics
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California  Joni Mitchell



 
 ------------------------------

From the album 'Blue'
Tabbed by Howard Wright
spxhaw@uk.ac.cf.thor
The original has a dulcimer part playing the intro, and playing chords in
the main part of the song. I've tabbed the dulcimer intro bit for guitar
using an alternative tuning. For the main part of the song, the acoustic
(using normal tuning) dominates; I've written out chord shapes ( and a bit
of tab) for this, as well as shapes for the 'dulcimer' part.
The original acoustic part adds a few noodles on top of the basic chords
(mostly sus4 and sus2 type of things). I've tried to include a few of these,
but I havn't tried to TAB note for note what is played.
The acoustic part is played with a capo at the 3rd fret, so when I
write D I mean play a D shape above the 3rd fret. (The actual
chord would be F)
OK ?
To play the dulcimer part, tune to : F Bb D A C F (no capo used)
Low E up to F
A up to Bb
D - same
G up to A
B up to C
E up to F
h - hammer on
p - pull off
/ - slide
INTRO :
 
 --------

[G] [A] [D] [G/A]  
 
 F-------------------------------------------2---------------------------0--0--
 C---4h5p4-0---0--2---2-2---2---2-----0----4---4-----0---0-0---0-0-------2--2--
 A-----------0----1---1-1---1-------0------3-----3---0---0-0---0-0-------1--1--
 D----------------3---3-3---3------------------------3---3-3---3-3-------------
 Bb---------------0---0-0---0------------------------------------------2-2--2--
 F---------------------------------------------------0---0-0---0-0-------------

VERSE 1:
 
 --------

[D]Sitting in a park in Paris France
[G]Reading the news and it [D/F#]sure looks [E7]bad
[E7]They won't give peace a chance
[Em/A]That was j[A7]ust a dream some of us h[D]ad
[D]Still a lot of la[G]nds to see
But I [D/F#]wouldn't want to st[E7]ay here
[E7]It's too old and [Em/A]cold and s[A7]ettled in its ways here
CHORUS:
 
 -------

[G] [Gsus4] Ah but Calif[G]ornia
Cali[D]fornia[B7] I'm comin[B7/F#]g home[B7]
[G]I'm gonna see the folks I dig
[D/F#]I'll even kiss a sunset [A]pig[Asus2]
C[A]alifornia I'm c[D]oming home
[D] [Gmaj7] [D] [Dsus4] [D] [A/G]  
 
 E--0h2p0--------2---2--0----------2---3---2-----------------
 B--3-----3---3--3---3--3-----3----3---3---3---------3--3----
 G----------2----4---4--4-----2----2---2---2---------4--4----
 D----------------------------0----0---0---0---------5--5----
 A------------------------------------------------0--0--0----
 E---------------3---3---------------------------------------

VERSE 2:
 
 ---------

I [D]met a redneck on a Grecian isle
[G]We did the goat dance very [E7]well
[E7]He gave me back my smile
[Em/A]But he kept m[A7]y camera to sell
[D]Oh the rogue, the red red rogue
[G]He cooked good omelettes and stews
And I [E]might have stayed on with him there
But my [A7]heart cried out for you
CHORUS:
 
 --------

[G] [Gsus4] Cal[G]ifornia
Oh[D] California[B7] I'm comi[B7/F#]ng home[B7]
Oh [G]make me feel good rock and roll band
[Dsus2/F#]I'm your biggest fan
[A]California I'm coming home
[D] [Gmaj7] [D] [Dsus4] [D]  
 
 E--0h2p0--------2---2--0-----2----2---3---2-----------
 B--3-----3---3--3---3--3-----3----3---3---3-----------
 G----------2----4---4--4-----2----2---2---2-----------
 D----------------------------0----0---0---0-----------
 A----------------------------------------------------
 E---------------3---3---------------------------------

MIDDLE 8:
 
 ---------

[D]Oh it gets so[E] lonely
[G] When you're walking
[D] And the streets are full of [A]strangers
[A]All the news of [E]home[D/F#] you re[G]ad just give you th[E7]e blues
[C]Just give you the [A]blues[Asus4] [A] [Asus2] [A]
[G] [A] [D] [G/A]  
 
 F--------------------------------2---------------------------0--0--
 C-----2---2-2---2---2-----0----4---4-----0---0-0---0-0-------2--2--
 A-----1---1-1---1-------0------3-----3---0---0-0---0-0-------1--1--
 D-----3---3-3---3------------------------3---3-3---3-3-------------
 Bb----0---0-0---0------------------------------------------2-2--2--
 F----------------------------------------0---0-0---0-0------------

VERSE 3:
 
 ---------

(For the standard tuning acoustic, use the G,E7 and A shapes which are
higher up the neck - I've marked them below with a '*' )
D G*
So I bought me a ticket I caught a plane to Spain
E7*
Went to a party down a red dirt road
There were lots of pretty people there
A* G* D
Reading Rolling Stone reading Vogue
D G*
They said how long can you hang around
G* E7*
I said a week maybe two
A*
Just until my skin turns brown
G*
And then I'm going home
CHORUS:
 
 --------

[G] [Gsus4] To Cal[G]ifornia
Cal[D]ifornia
I'm coming [B7]home[B7/F#]
[B7]Oh [G]will you take me as I am
[D/F#]Strung out on another man
[A7]California I'm coming h[D]ome
[D] [Gmaj7] [D] [Dsus4] [D]  
 
 E--0h2p0--------2---2--0-----2----2---3---2-----------
 B--3-----3---3--3---3--3-----3----3---3---3-----------
 G----------2----4---4--4-----2----2---2---2-----------
 D----------------------------0----0---0---0-----------
 A----------------------------------------------------
 E---------------3---3---------------------------------

[D]Oh it gets so [E]lonely
[G] When you're walking
[D]And the streets are full of [A]strangers
All the news of [E]home you [G]read
More about the [D]war and the bloody [A]changes
Oh[E] will you take me as I [G]am
Will you take me as I [D]am
Will you[A], will you take me as I[E] am
[G] [D] [A] [Mmm] [mmm] [mmm] [mmm] [mmm] [mmm] [mmm] Take me as I [E]am ......
Chord Shapes :
 
 --------------

Standard tuning (acoustic guitar part)
REMEMBER - these are capoed at the 3rd fret
[EADGBE]xx0232 [EADGBE]3x0003 [EADGBE]020100 [EADGBE]x02020 [EADGBE]3x0013 [EADGBE]xx5433
D G E7 A7 Gsus4 G*
[EADGBE]x21202 [EADGBE]x02220 [EADGBE]2x023x [EADGBE]x02230 [EADGBE]x02200 [EADGBE]2x0230
[B7] [A] [D/F#] [Asus4] [Asus2] [Dsus2/F#] [EADGBE]x32010 [EADGBE]x02030 [EADGBE]x0543x [EADGBE]x0200x [EADGBE]2x120x [EADGBE]xx2434
C A7sus4 G/A Em/A B7/F# E7*
[EADGBE]xx7655
A*
Alternative tuning (Dulcimer part)
 
 -----------------------------------

Just to keep things simple I'll keep the same chord names as for
the standard tuning guitar part. In actual fact, the dulcimer chords
are all in F, but since the acoustic guitar is played in D with
a capo on the 3rd fret, it's also effectively playing in F, although
all the chord names are written in D. So to make it easy (I hope!)
I'll write all the chords as though it were in D.
If you can't understand what the fuck I'm on about, mail me and I'll try
to explain.
I havn't tabbed all the chords, but these are the basic ones.
(I'll write 'b' for the Bb string to save space)
[FbDACF]023000 [FbDACF]xx3354 [FbDACF]x03120 [FbDACF]x03555 [FbDACF]243222 [FbDACF]x22102
[D] [D] [G] [G] [E7] [A7] [FbDACF]xx0321 [FbDACF]x03130 [FbDACF]4x3000 [FbDACF]x2x120
[B7] [Gsus4] [D/F#] [G/A] 

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A A/G A7 Asus2 Asus4 B7 B7/F# C D D/F# Dsus2/F# Dsus4 E E7 Em/A G Gmaj7 Gsus4
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