Ballad Of The Dying Man chords by Father John Misty
Guitar chords with lyrics
This is my favorite of the singles we've heard from "Pure Comedy" so far, so I figured
I'd take a minute to transcribe the chords.
In typical Josh fashion, the guitar is in D tuning (DGCFAD). There are a couple times
in the song where it sounds like he might even be downtuned to Db, but I haven't seen him
F Fmaj7 F7 Bb
_xooo_ _xooo_ x_ooo_ x__o_o
|||||| |||||| |||||? ||||?|
|||||| |||||? |?|||| ||?|||
?||||? ?||||| ?||||| |?||||
|||||| |||||| |||||| ||||||
F/A Gm Gm7 Abdim7
x_oo_o xo___o xo___o x__o_x
||||?| ||||?| ||||?| |?||||
|?|||| ||??|| ||??|| ||?|?|
|||||| |||||| |||||? ||||||
|||||| |||||| |||||| ||||||
Dm Eb Am Dbmaj-5
o__ooo ______ x_____ x____x
|||||| ?|||?? |||||| 5fr ||||||
|??||| |||?|| |?|||? |?||||
|||||| |??||| ||||?| ||?|||
|||||| |||||| ||??|| |||??|
Db G7 C Ab
x_____ xo_o_o x_o___ x_____
5fr |||||| |||||| |||||| |?|||?
|?|||? ||?|?| |||?|? ||||||
|||||| |||||| ||||?| ||???|
||???| |||||| |||||| ||||||
[Intro]
The intro is the same chord sequence as the chorus. I like to accent my strumming in a
way that mimics the high notes of the piano part. On the second F in the sequence, try
moving your pinky up to the fifth fret of the high D string (3x0005) and back down to
the third fret (3x0003) in order to follow the piano. Throughout the song, I also alternate
between Gm and Gm7 (which I've marked in parentheses) toward the end of phrases in order
to get the higher F-note of the keys, even though it sounds like Josh plays it as a
straight Gm.
F Fmaj7 F7 F Bb F/A Gm Abdim7 Gm (Gm7)
[Verse 1]
F Dm Eb Gm (Gm7)
Naturally the dying man wonders to himself:
F Dm Eb Gm (Gm7)
Has commentary been more lucid than anybody else?
Am F7
And had he successively beaten back the rising tide
Dm Dbmaj-5
Of idiots, dilettantes, and fools
Abdim7 Gm
On his watch while he was alive
F Abdim7 Db Dm
Lord, just a little more time
[Chorus 1]
F Fmaj7 F7 F
Oh, in no time at all
Bb F/A Gm
This'll be the distant past
G7 Gm (Gm7)
Ooh
[Verse 2]
F Dm Eb Gm (Gm7)
So says the dying man once I'm in the box
F Dm Eb Gm (Gm7)
Just think of all the overrated hacks running amok
Am F7
And all of the pretentious, ignorant voices that will go unchecked
Dm Dbmaj-5
The homophobes, hipsters, and 1%
Abdim7 Gm
The false feminists he'd managed to detect
F Abdim7 Db Dm
Oh, who will critique them once he's left?
[Chorus 2]
F Fmaj7 F7 F
Oh, in no time at all
Bb F/A C
This'll be the distant past
[Bridge]
Ab C F Bb
What he'd give for one more day to rate and analyze
Gm C F Bb
The world made in his image as of yet to realize
Dm Gm C
What a mess to leave behind
[Verse 3]
F Dm Eb Gm (Gm7)
Eventually the dying man takes his final breath
F Dm Eb Gm (Gm7)
But first checks his news feed to see what he's 'bout to miss
Am F7
And it occurs to him a little late in the game
Dm Dbmaj-5
We leave as clueless as we came
Abdim7 Gm
From rented heavens to the shadows in the cave
F Abdim7 Db Dm
We'll all be wrong someday
[Outro]
While Josh sings the "Oh oh oh" bit and the choir comes in, just repeat this sequence
until the end of the song: Last updated:
Please rate for accuracy!