Alma chords by Tom Lehrer

Chords with lyrics

• Capo on 1st

Tuning: Standard (E MajorE A augmentedA D MajorD G+G BB E MajorE)

Key: FF

Difficulty: Novice

3/4 time, 110 bpm
Capo 1st fret (to get original key of FF)

Intro:
E MajorE F# minorF#m BB

Verse:
  E MajorE        A augmentedA
The loveliest girl Vienna
  BB           E MajorE
Was Alma, the smartest as well
                 A augmentedA
Once you picked her up on your antenna,
   BB          E MajorE
You'd never be free of her spell.
  C majorC          G+G
Her lovers were many and varied,
     D7D7          G+G
From the day she began her -- beguine.
      E minor 7Em7            A7A7
There were three famous ones whom she married,
  F#F#         BB
And who knows how many between.

Chorus 1:
A augmentedA   E MajorE     BB          E MajorE
Alma, tell us! All modern women are jealous.
A augmentedA           E MajorE   C#C#   F# minorF#m    B7B7     E MajorE
Which of your magical wands got you Gustav and Walter and Franz?

Verse:
  E MajorE             A augmentedA
The first one she married was Mahler,
   BB            E MajorE
Whose buddies all knew him as Gustav.
               A augmentedA
And each time he saw her he'd holler:
   BB           E MajorE
"Ach, that is the fraulein I moost have!"
   C majorC           G+G
Their marriage, however, was murduh
   D7D7           G+G
He'd scream to the heavens above,
   E minor 7Em7           A7A7
"I'm writing Das Lied von der Erde,
  F#F#           BB
And she only wants to make love!"

Chorus 2:
A augmentedA   E MajorE     BB          E MajorE
Alma, tell us! All modern women are jealous
  A augmentedA            E MajorE     C#C#   F# minorF#m   B7B7    E MajorE
You should have a statue in bronze for bagging Gustav & Walter & Franz

Verse:
   E MajorE            A augmentedA
While married to Gus, she met Gropius,
  BB             E MajorE
And soon she was swinging with Walter.
                 A augmentedA
Gus died, and her tear drops were copious.
  BB            E MajorE
She cried all the way to the altar.
  C majorC             G+G
But he would work late at the Bauhaus,
  D7D7           G+G
And only came home now and then
     E minor 7Em7          A7A7
She said, "What am I running, a chow house?
   F#F#           BB
It's time to change parters again."

Chorus 3:
A augmentedA   E MajorE     BB          E MajorE
Alma, tell us! All modern women are jealous
    A augmentedA          E MajorE
Though you didn't even use Ponds,
C#C#   F# minorF#m    B7B7     E MajorE
You got Gustav and Walter and Franz

Verse:
   E MajorE             A augmentedA
While married to Walt she'd met Werfel,
  BB            E MajorE
And he too was caught in her net.
              A augmentedA
He married her, but he was careful,
    BB        E MajorE
'cause Alma was no Bernadette.
  C majorC          G+G
And that is the story of Alma,
     D7D7          G+G
Who knew how to receive and to give
  E minor 7Em7          A7A7
The body that reached her embalma'
  F#F#            BB
Was one that had known how to live!

Chorus 4:
A augmentedA   E MajorE     BB            E MajorE
Alma, tell us! How can they help being jealous?
A augmentedA           E MajorE   C#C#   F# minorF#m    B7B7
Ducks always envy the swans who get Gustav and Walter,
  F# minorF#m    B7B7      F# minorF#m    B7B7     E MajorE
You never did falter, with Gustav and Walter and Franz

Outro:
B7B7 E MajorE