Tabs with lyrics
my band Leslie Can't Love plays this so I figured why not transcribe it.
Chords with words are first. Some riffs are tabbed at the bottom.
Fear of Trains by the Magnetic Fields. 'Charm of the Highway Strip'
into:
G+G
FF
C majorC
VERSE 1:
G+G
FF
C majorC
It was the army train that took her daddy from her
G+G
FF
C majorC
It was the bible train that took her momma too
A minorAm
DmDm
C majorC
G+G
And that high loud whistle made her horse run away
G+G
FF
C majorC
But the straw the broke the camel's back was you
G+G
FF
C majorC
It was the government train that took away her childhood
G+G
FF
C majorC
It was the KKK that took away her past
A minorAm
DmDm
C majorC
G+G
It was the white man's will that hers be broken
G+G
FF
C majorC
But that barefoot girl could run too fast
CHORUS:
C majorC
A minorAm
Because the world's too cold for a girl like that with a
C majorC
G+G
Blackfoot soul and a cowboy hat
C majorC
A minorAm
Everything she loved went down the dragon track
C majorC
G+G
FF
C majorC
She had a fear of trains
BRIDGE:
C majorC
G+G
In the beet fields of Montana
DmDm
A minorAm
She's always coming on dead rails
C majorC
G+G
to break the plow and whisper "Honey,
DmDm
A minorAm
bound to live is bound to fail"
C majorC
G+G
And in a park in San Francisco
DmDm
A minorAm
her momma shrieks about the Lord
C majorC
G+G
And down the dead rails there's an echo
DmDm
A minorAm
The wind is whistling all-aboard
CHORUS
VERSE2: (same chords as before)
It was the wagon train that too away her country
It was the oil train that took away her land
She could have been the belle of the ponderosa
but that was not the fat man's plan
CHORUS
Guitar riff during verses and intro:
E-------------------1--0-----------------------------------------
B-------1--0---1-------------------------------------------------
G------------------------------0^2^0------------0^2^0------------
D-------------------------------------0^2--------------0^2-------
A--------------------------3-----------------3--------------3----
E---3----------1-------------------------------------------------
Guitar riff at the end of the Chorus:
E-------1^0-------------------------1^0--------------------------
B------------3^1--------------------------3^1--------------------
G------------------2--2---0---------------------0----------------
D------------------------------3----------------2----------------
A---3-------------------------------------------3----------------
E------------------3-----------1---------------------------------
Guitar/keyboard riff during the bridge:
E-------3-----------3-------------1-----------0------------------
B--1-----------0-------------------------------------------------
G----------------------------2-------------2---------------------
D----------------------------0-----------------------------------
A--3---------------------------------------0---------------------
E--------------3-------------------------------------------------