Alma chords by Tom Lehrer

• Capo on 1st

Tuning: Standard (E A D G B E)

Key: F

Difficulty: Novice

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

Intro:
E  F#m  B

Verse:
    E                A
The loveliest girl Vienna
    B                     E
Was Alma, the smartest as well
                                 A
Once you picked her up on your antenna,
      B                    E
You'd never be free of her spell.
    C                    G
Her lovers were many and varied,
         D7                   G
From the day she began her -- beguine.
           Em7                        A7
There were three famous ones whom she married,
    F#                 B
And who knows how many between.

Chorus 1:
A     E         B                    E
Alma, tell us!  All modern women are jealous.
A                     E     C#      F#m        B7         E
Which of your magical wands got you Gustav and Walter and Franz?

Verse:
    E                         A
The first one she married was Mahler,
      B                       E
Whose buddies all knew him as Gustav.
                              A
And each time he saw her he'd holler:
      B                      E
"Ach, that is the fraulein I moost have!"
      C                      G
Their marriage, however, was murduh
     D7                     G
He'd scream to the heavens above,
     Em7                      A7
"I'm writing Das Lied von der Erde,
    F#                     B
And she only wants to make love!"

Chorus 2:
A     E         B                    E
Alma, tell us!  All modern women are jealous
    A                       E          C#      F#m      B7       E
You should have a statue in bronze for bagging Gustav & Walter & Franz

Verse:
      E                       A
While married to Gus, she met Gropius,
    B                          E
And soon she was swinging with Walter.
                                  A
Gus died, and her tear drops were copious.
    B                        E
She cried all the way to the altar.
    C                         G
But he would work late at the Bauhaus,
    D7                     G
And only came home now and then
          Em7                   A7
She said, "What am I running, a chow house?
     F#                      B
It's time to change parters again."

Chorus 3:
A     E         B                    E
Alma, tell us!  All modern women are jealous
       A                   E
Though you didn't even use Ponds,
C#      F#m        B7         E
You got Gustav and Walter and Franz

Verse:
      E                         A
While married to Walt she'd met Werfel,
    B                        E
And he too was caught in her net.
                           A
He married her, but he was careful,
       B                E
'cause Alma was no Bernadette.
    C                    G
And that is the story of Alma,
         D7                    G
Who knew how to receive and to give
    Em7                   A7
The body that reached her embalma'
    F#                        B
Was one that had known how to live!

Chorus 4:
A     E         B                       E
Alma, tell us!  How can they help being jealous?
A                     E     C#      F#m        B7
Ducks always envy the swans who get Gustav and Walter,
    F#m       B7           F#m        B7         E
You never did falter, with Gustav and Walter and Franz

Outro:
B7 E