The Rail Song tab by Adrian Belew

Tabs

As played on the amazing record "acoustic".


Intro: *Play riff*


   A augmentedA
I recall as a boy we would hop the freights
    D2
wasn't nothin' but a kick back then
     E MajorE
there was no better thrill for my anxious heart
    F#-
than a long flatcar
    E MajorE
headin' out of the yard
   A augmentedA
and I knew even then she was in my blood
     D2
like the time when I first hired on
    E MajorE
and the fireman laughed at my bony nose
    F#-
but he tossed me a cap
   E MajorE
said GM&O
  *riff........
and I was a man...
........................
I gave her my best years
.............................
well, what can you do but laugh
.........................................*
I don't expect she'll ever be coming back
     A augmentedA
When we climbed up the great Appalachians
  D2
her engines would be raging like hell
     E MajorE
then we'd come back down to the rising towns
     F#-
where the cattle stare
    E MajorE
in the frozen air
  A augmentedA
For me there nothing more sacred
     D2
than the beautiful sound she'd make
  E MajorE
her long blue signal blowin' deep in the night,
     F#-
it would get to me there,
     E MajorE
it would get to me there
  *bridge riff.........
Now I'm afraid...
............................
Afraid of these silent hours
..........................
awake underneath my old cap
.........................................*
I don't expect she'll ever be coming back

*(instrumental with chords A augmentedA D2 E MajorE F#- E MajorE)*

     A augmentedA
Well, I watched the beginning of the end for her
    D2
when I saw my first jet airplane
    E MajorE
flying high overhead like a bird of prey
     F#-
while the mighty fell
    E MajorE
in the land of the brave
  *final riff*
Now I'm alone.

Riff:
E MajorE|--12-------|--12------|--11-------|--11-------|--11------|--9------|--9------|
BB|--10-------|---9------|---9-------|---8-------|---7------|--7------|--7------|
G+G|-------x16-|-------x8-|-------x16-|-------x16-|------x8--|------x8-|--7--x16-|
D MajorD|-----------|----------|-----------|-----------|----------|---------|--7------|
A augmentedA|-----------|----------|-----------|-----------|----------|---------|---------|
E MajorE|-----------|----------|-----------|-----------|----------|---------|---------|


Bridge riff:
E MajorE|-12------|-12-----|-11------|-11-------|-11------|-9------|-/------|-9------|
BB|-10------|--9-----|--9------|--8-------|--7------|-7------|-6------|-7------|
G+G|-----x16-|-----x8-|-----x16-|------x16-|-----x8--|----x24-|----x32-|-7--x16-|
D MajorD|---------|--------|---------|----------|---------|--------|--------|-7------|
A augmentedA|---------|--------|---------|----------|---------|--------|--------|--------|
E MajorE|---------|--------|---------|----------|---------|--------|--------|--------|


Final riff:
E MajorE|--12-------|
BB|--10-------|
G+G|-------x25-|
D MajorD|-----------|
A augmentedA|-----------|
E MajorE|-----------|


Of course, fell free to make this tab better.
I did my best, but Adrian is a monster guitarist and he does some strange chord; he's a
he's the story, and I'm only a nut.
But this is my tribute to him.
Thank you Ade.

_Ozzy