Son Of Sam chords by Elliott Smith

Chords with lyrics

I've never actually seen a completely correct tab for this song anywhere online, and I'm not
saying that mine is 100% correct, but it sounds right to me. Email me with any corrections.

Standard tuning (that is, capo on second fret if you've been playing a lot of Elliott Smith)

Intro:

(This is basically just the chords from the piano part. You can pretty much ignore the bass
notes of this intro if you want to. How do you play E9/G# on guitar anyway??)

A minorAm     AbaugAbaug     A minorAm       D/AD/A  D7/A

E9/Ab    Em/GEm/G     D/F#D/F#      FF   E MajorE

A minorAm            AbaugAbaug
Something's happening, don't speak too soon.
  G+G          FF
I told the boss off and made my move;
    E MajorE
I got nowhere to go.

A minorAm      Am/B  FF        C majorC
Son of Sam, son of a shining path, a clouded mind.
   B7B7  FF   A minorAm
(aah-aaaah aaaah aa-ah)
    Am/B  FF       C majorC
Couple killer, each and every time.
   B7B7  FF   A minorAm
(aah-aaaah aaaah aa-ah)
AbaugAbaug
(little walk-down riff)

A minorAm          AbaugAbaug
I'm not uncomfortable, feeling weird.
G+G            FF
Lonely leered, options disappeared,
    E MajorE
but I know what to do.

A minorAm      Am/B   FF        C majorC
Son of Sam, son of a doctor's touch, a nurse's love.

B7B7  FF   A minorAm
(aah-aaaah aaaah aa-ah)

Am/B FF      C majorC
Acting under orders from above.

B7B7  FF   A minorAm
(aah-aaaah aaaah aa-ah) (I feel silly writing this out)

BRIDGE:

A minorAm     FF     D7D7      FF

A minorAm     FF     D7D7      FF   E MajorE

Back to Verse progression for the solo:

A minorAm     AbaugAbaug   G+G      FF

G+G     FF     E MajorE

A minorAm      Am/B
Son of Sam, son of a shining path, a clouded mind.
   B7B7  FF   A minorAm
(aah-aaaah aaaah aa-ah)
A minorAm   Am/B   FF      C majorC
Couple killer, running out of time
   B7B7  FF   A minorAm
(aah-aaaah aaaah aa-ah)

Return to intro progression:

AbaugAbaug    A minorAm      D/AD/A  D7/A

E9/Ab    Em/GEm/G     D/F#D/F#      FF   E MajorE

A minorAm       AbaugAbaug       G+G          D/F#D/F#
Shiva opens her arms now, to make sure I don't get too far.
   E/G#           Em/GEm/G            D/F#D/F#
I may talk in my sleep tonight, 'cause I don't know what I am.
         FF       E MajorE   A minorAm
I'm a little like you, more like Son of Sam.

FF    E MajorE    A minorAm

You can figure out the riffs for yourself, they're not too hard.

CHORDS USED:

I wrote "Abaug" in the tab, but I just use am-maj7 on guitar because it's easier for me and
it still sounds right (to me at least). Basically, it's just the chord you get when you flat
the root of an am. Everything else should be pretty easy to figure out.

"Abaug [sic]"
e|------0--------|
BB|------1--------|
G+G|------1--------|
D MajorD|------2--------|
A augmentedA|------0--------|
E MajorE|------X--------|