Cygnet Committee David Bowie
Subject: THE CYGNET COMMITTEE by David Bowie
This song took me two hours to figure out. It is probably, in my opinion,
one of the greatest David Bowie songs. It is off of -Space Oddity- and
quite a track coming in at over nine minutes. It is quite a piece moving
through so many key changes and other things. Those are things
characteristic of -Space Oddity-, figuring out songs off that album is
quite difficult. I was quite frustrated trying to get some of it but now
that I got all of it, I am quite proud and happy I did it. I am typing
this on a word processor program that does not show any quotation or
apostrophe marks. So to not cause any confusion on the lyrics, I will
use a ~ for an apostrophe and ~~ for both open and closed quotation marks.
I took the lyrics right off of the album and even capitalized a lot of
things that were capitalized on the album sleeve. I hope you enjoy this,
(it took me a really strenuous long time to do but I did enjoy doing it
anyway):
THE CYGNET COMMITTEE
by David Bowie
[D]I bless you m[D/C]adly
[Bm]Sadly [Bb]as I tie my s[D]hoe
I love you b[D/C]adly
[Bm]Just in t[Bb]ime, at times, I g[D]uess[D/C]
Be[Bm]cause of y[Bb]ou I need to r[D]est[D/C]
B[Bm]ecause it~s [Bb]you that sets the t[D]est
[Eb]So much has gone and l[Bbm]ittle is new
[Bbm]And as the spa[A]rrow sings
Dawn ch[F#]orus for
S[Bbm]omeone else to hear
[Bbm]The thinker s[A]its alone
Gr[F#]owing o[Bbm]lder
And so bitter
[F]~~I gave Them life, I gave Them [Bbm]all
They [C]drained my very s[Fm]oul...dry
[F]I crushed my heart to ease Their p[Bbm]ains
No tho[C]ught for me rem[Fm]ains there[Ab]
[Bbm]Nothing can they [Db]spare
What of m[C]e?
[Am]Who praised Their efforts to be free?[F]
W[G]ords of strength and care and sympathy[C]
[Am]I open doors that would have blocked their way[F]
I b[G]raved Their cause to guide for little pay[C]
[Am]I ravaged at my finanace just for Those[F]
Those whose claim[G]s were steeped in peace, tranquility[C]
[Am]Those who said a new world, new ways ever free[F]
Those whose promises stretched in ho[G]pe and grace for me.~~[C]
[Am] [F] [G]
[D]I bless you madly[D/C]
S[Bm]adly as[Bb] I tie my shoe[D]
I love you badly[D/C]
J[Bm]ust in tim[Bb]e, at times, I guess[D] [D/C]
Be[Bm]cause of you I[Bb] need to rest[D] [D/C]
Be[Bm]cause it~s you t[Bb]hat sets the test[D]
[Eb]So much has gone and little [Bbm]is new
[Bbm]And as the sunris[A]e stream
F[F#]lickers on me[Bbm]
My friends talk of [Bbm]glory, u[A]ntold dream
Where al[F#]l is God and God is[Bbm] just a word
[F]~~We had a friend, a talking man[Bbm]
Who spok[C]e of many powers t[Fm]hat he had
N[F]ot of the best of men but Ours[Bbm]
We u[C]sed him, We let him use his po[Fm]wers[Ab]
We [Bbm]let him fill our need[Db]s
Now we are strong[C].
[Am]And the road is coming to its end[F]
N[G]ow the damned have not time to make amends[C]
[Am]No purse of token fortunes stands in Our way[F]
The s[G]ilent guns of love will blast the sky[C]
[Am]We broke the ruptured structure build of age[F]
Our weap[G]ons were tongues of crying rage[C]
Where mon[Am]ey stood we planted seeds of rebirth[F]
And stab[G]bed the backs of fathers, sons of dirt[C]
In[Am]filtrated business cesspools
Hating through Our s[F]leeves
Yea, and We slit [G]the Catholic throat
Stoned the poor on slogans [C]as:
-Wish You Could Hear-
-Love Is All We Need-[Am]
-Kick Out The Jams-
-Kick Out Your Mother-
-C[F]ut Up Your Friend-
-Screw Up Your Brother or He~ll Get You In [G]the End-
And We Kno[C]w the Flag of Love is from Above[Am]
And We Can Force[F] You to Be Free
And We Can Force[G] You to Believe.~~[C]
And I close my eyes and tighten up[Am] my brain
For I once read a book in which the lovers were sl[F]ain
For they Knew not the words of the Free States~ refrain,[G]
It said:
~[C]~I Believe in the Power of Good
I Be[Am]lieve in the State of Love
I Will Figh[F]t For the Right to be Right
[G]
[C]I Will Kill for the Good of the Fight for the Right to be Right.~~
And I open my eyes [Am]to look around[F]
And I see a child laid slain on the ground[G]
[C]As a love machine lumbers [Am]through desolation rows
[F]Ploughing down man, woman, [G]listening to its command
But not hea[C]ring anymore-
Not hear[Am]ing anymore[F]
Just the shrieks[G] from the old rich
And I Want to Believ[C]e
In the madness that calls ~[G]Now~
And I Want to Believ[C]e
That a light is shining through som[G]ehow
And I Want to Believ[Bb]e
And You Want to Believe[F]
And We Want to Believ[C]e
And We Want to Live[G]
Oh, We Want to Live[Ab]
We Want to Live[Bb]
We Want to Live[C]
(marching-type beat configuration appears)
We Want to Li[G]ve
We Want to Live[Ab]
We Want To Live[Bb]
I Want to Live[C]
I Want to Live[G]
I Want to Liv[Ab]e
I Want to Liv[Bb]e
I Want to Live[C]
I Want to Live[G]
L[Ab]ive
L[Bb]ive
L[C]ive
(it continues with the G-Ab-Bb-C chords until it fades)
The Chords Used Are:
[E] [A] [D] [G] [B] [E]
-----------
D x x 0 2 3 x
D/C x 3 x 2 3 x
Bm x 2 4 4 3 2
Bb x 1 3 3 3 x
Eb x 6 5 3 4 3
Bbm x 1 3 3 2 1
A x 0 2 2 2 0
[F#] [2] [4] [4] [3] [2] [2]
[F]C [1]x [3]3 [3]2 [2]0 [1]1 [1]0
[Fm] [1] [3] [3] [1] [1] [1]
[Ab]Db [4]x [6]4 [6]6 [5]6 [4]6 [4]x
Am x 0 2 2 1 0
G 3 2 0 0 0 3
Make sure to play the marching chords at the end in barre form.
And that is pretty much it. Please send my email and comment if you find
any errors or anything else not of that nature. Bye-bye.
(This thing came out a bit screwed up, especially with the chords above the
words, but I hope you get the idea)
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