God of Ocean Tides — Counting Crows
Chords and lyrics for God of Ocean Tides by Counting Crows (key of C).
Verse 1
Dan fingerpicks this song. I have tabbed out the intro because it gives a
pretty good
representation of the pattern and variations he uses throughout the song.
The bass is
played by alternating the thumb between the lowest and second lowest string
every 1/4
note. When he does the walkdown during the verses ("And I buy all my
days"), he seems to
only hit the bass note of each chord so I have notated it as such.
In the "chorus", for lack of a better term, the D-G-D-G parts ("All night
long"), he
strums the chords.
Now on to the bridge. It gets sort of difficult here because the second
guitar starts
playing a big part and there is also more occasional strumming. At "colored
lights", a very
distinctive picking pattern appears and I have written it out there. The
chord names
represent those picking patterns until the end of the bridge, at which
point you can return
to normal chord forms. You can barre the first two forms but make sure not
to hit that D
string. Sorry if it is confusing, but I promise I could have made it much
worse.
I hope my tab does this beautiful song justice.
*Lyrics adapted from LyricsMania.com
Intro
[C]
Verse 1
[G]Close the door on a short night
[D]Lift the lid on the daylight
[Em]6:09 West Tennessee[C] time
C /B /A G
And I buy all my days
[G]At the [D]same place where the girl sells her [C]nights
C /B /A G
To a God of ocean tides.
Chorus
[D]All [G]night [D]long,
[G]Writing [C]poems to [G]California
[Em]Melodies of failure
And the [Am]people I have thrown
A - [D]way, [G][D]meanwhile, [G]somewhere [C]west of [G]Carolina
In a [Em]congregation of strangers
We are [A7]digging holes to China
Then we [C]pray to our reflections
In the [C]water when it rises.
Verse 2
I said [G]headlights pin the highway down
[D]Jesus spins the world around
And I’ll [Em]spend all my tomorrows coming [C]down
C /B /A G
Goodbye all my days.
I know I [D]said I never loved you
C C /B /A G
But I might just try again tonight.
Bridge
[D/B]Truck stops and [C]river gods
Gas [D]stations of the [G]Cross
[D]Following a ghost,
[Am]Following a ghost,
I [C]pray the water [D]wash away
The [Em]memories [D]and the [Cmaj7]cost.
[D]Carry me [G]south, to the [Cadd9]sea
[D/E]Along with your [G]memories of [Cmaj7]me
We are [D]born in the [G]water
G /A /B Cadd9
And I will re-turn to Thee.
[Csus2]
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3-|
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[G5/D]
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3-|
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[G]
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8-|
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[Csus2]Colored lights
And [G5/D]birthday cakes
[Csus2]Candle wax
On [G]paper plates.
[Csus2]Breathe the water
[G]Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye.
You can [Csus2]see through water
All the way up to the [G]sky.
Verse 3
[G]Gods of water, gods of rain
[D]Cover up the sun again
We are [Em]crossing at the Mississippi[C] line
C /B /A G
And I tried all my days
[D]To love you just the way you hoped I [C]might,
C /B /A G
But I’m leaving here to-night.
I [D]can’t remember yesterday
C C /B /A G
I tried, if I said I could
[G]I lied.
Outro
[Em7] [Em7(2)]
Cmaj7 C Cmaj7 Cadd9 (Strummed end riff)
Chords
Verse/Chorus
[C]G 320033
D XX0232
Em 022000
[Am]
[A7]
Bridge
D/B X2023X
[Cmaj7]
[Cadd9]D/E 0X0232
Csus2 X35X33
G5/D X55X33
G(2) X(10)9X87
Outro
Em7 020000
Em7(2) 020003
X