Happy Birthday!
YOU'RE AGING WELL
Capo: none
Intro:
G C(9) G/B C(9)
Am Em
Am Em/B C(9) D (details on picking at end)
G C(9)
Why is it that as we grow older and stronger
G/B C(9)
The road signs point us adrift and make us afraid
Am Em
Saying "You never can win," "Watch your back," "Where's your husband?"
Am Em/B C(9) D
Oh I don't like the signs that the signmakers made.
G C(9)
So I'm going to steal out with my paint and brushes
G/B C(9)
I'll change the directions, I'll hit every street
Am Em
It's the Tinseltown scandal, the Robin Hood vandal
Am Em/B C(9)
She goes out and steals the King's English
D
And in the morning you wake up and the signs point to you
They say
G C(9)
"I'm so glad that you finally made it here,"
G C(9)
"You thought nobody cared, but I did, I could tell,"
G/B C(9)
And "This is your year," and "It always starts here,"
Am Em/B C(9) D G C(9) G/B C(9)
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, "You're aging well."
G C(9)
Well I know a woman with a collection of sticks
G/B C(9)
She could fight back the hundreds of voices she heard
Am Em
And she could poke at the greed, she could fend off her need
Am Em/B C(9) D
And with anger she found she could pound every word.
G C(9)
But one voice got through, caught her up by surprise
G/B C(9)
It said, "Don't hold us back we're the story you tell,"
Am Em
And no sooner than spoken, a spell had been broken
Am Em/B C(9)
And the voices before her were trumpets and tympani
D
Violins, basses and woodwinds and cellos, singing
G C(9)
"We're so glad that you finally made it here
G C(9)
You thought nobody cared, but we did, we could tell
G/B C(9)
And now you'll dance through the days while the orchestra plays
Am Em/B C(9) D G
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, you're aging well."
C9 G/B C(9) Am Em Am Em/B C(9) D
G C(9)
Now when I was fifteen, oh I knew it was over
G/B C(9)
The road to enchantment was not mine to take
Am Em
Cause lower calf, upper arm should be half what they are
Am Em/B C(9) D
I was breaking the laws that the signmakers made.
G C(9)
And all I could eat was the poisonous apple
G C(9)
And that's not a story I was meant to survive
Am Em
I was all out of choices, but the woman of voices
Am Em/B C(9)
She turned round the corner with music around her,
D
She gave me the language that keeps me alive, she said:
G C(9)
"I'm so glad that you finally made it here
G C(9)
With the things you know now, that only time could tell
G/B C(9)
Looking back, seeing far, landing right where we are
Am Em/B C(9) D Am Em/B C(9)n D
And oh-oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, you're aging, oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh and I am aging,
Am Em/B C(9) D G C(9) G
oh oh-oh-oh oh-oh, aren't we aging well?"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: This is my first transcription ever. As Brian Weiland of
Dar transcription fame says:
"Inaccuracies are mine and not Dar's. =)"
Chords:
G 320033 (sometimes 320030)
G/B x20033 (sometimes x20030)
C(9) x32030 (sometimes x32033)
Am x02210
Em 022000
Em/B x22000
D xx0232
Dsus4 xx0233
D(9) xx0535
Fingerpicking pattern:
Dar does all of the fingerpicking throughout the verses pretty much
identically to the introduction (described below), except for the
last two bars with the D chords. At the end of the verses it is
usually just plain D with perhaps a brief Dsus4 at the end.
This song sounds pretty with any basic fingerpicking pattern, also.
Intro and picking pattern:
G C(9)sus4 C(9)
e||-----------0--2--3-------|--2-----------0----------|
B||--------3-----------3----|-----3-----3-----3-----3-|
G||-----0---------------- 0-|--------0-----------0----|
D||-------------------------|-------------------------|
A||-------------------------|--3-----------3--------3-|
E||--3----------------------|-------------------------|
G/B C(9)sus4 C(9)
e||-----------0--2--3-------|--2-----------0----------|
B||--------3-----------3----|-----3-----3-----3-----3-|
G||-----0---------------- 0-|--------0-----------0----|
D||-------------------------|-------------------------|
A||-------------------------|--3-----------3--------3-|
E||--2----------------------|-------------------------|
Am Em
e||-----------0-------------|-----------0-------------|
B||--------1-----1----------|--------0-----0----------|
G||-----2-----------2-----2-|-----0-----------0-----0-|
D||--------------------2----|-------------------------|
A||--0----------------------|--------------------2----|
E||-------------------------|--0----------------------|
Am Em C(9)
e||-----------0-----------0-|-----------0-------------|
B||--------1-----------0----|--------3--------------0-|
G||-----2-----------0-------|-----0------------0-2----|
D||-------------------------|-------------------------|
A||--0-----------2----------|--3----------------------|
E||-------------------------|-------------------------|
Dsus4 D(9)
e||-----------3-------------|-----------5-------------|
B||--------3-----3----------|--------3-----3----------|
G||-----2-----------2-----2-|-----5-----------5-----5-|
D||--0-----------------0----|--0-----------------0----|
A||--------------2----------|-------------------------|
E||-------------------------|-------------------------|
Words and music Copyright © 1995 by Burning Field Music (ASCAP), administered by Bug Music (ASCAP). All Rights Reserved. Reprinted by permission.
NOTE: Authorshop and copyright information, including this notice, must be included in its entirety on any printed or electronic copy of this transcription. For information on registering your own transcription of a Dar Williams song, visit http://pobox.com/~dar/tabs on the World Wide Web, or send email to darweb@pobox.com . Along with permission, you'll be able to share your tabs with other listeners.