arrangements (K-Z)

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This is an arrangement for fretted dulcimer of Jackson Browne’s classic song about those in power, whose manipulations drive us into the wars which benefit them.  It’s a song which I’d like to hear sung more often by various musicians.  As always, my transcription is not only for dulcimer players.  Use it to play the song on guitar, ukulele, piano ... Page 2 of the .PDF has a lyric variation [to be printed on the back] largely based on Richie Havens’ version.

You might ask what it takes to remember, when you know that you’ve seen it before –
Where a government lies to a people, and a country is drifting to war.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [page 1, print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

  · Also, watch me perform the song on dulcimer on YouTube.

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, Nashville songwriter Lisa Aschmann, in the 1980s, co-wrote this song with Georgia Yates – early in Lisa’s songwriting career.

This is a song more people should hear.

I used to perform it, but I had lost the paper with the lyrics, chords and my arrangement.  After finding the paper, I was about to start learning it when I heard Lisa sing it on Zoom along with a backing piano part.  I realized that the chords were a bit different from what I had, so I asked Lisa for the recording.  I got both the recording and the pianist’s chord sheet.

The version I put together is a blend of my old arrangement and the pianist’s, but is closer to the pianist’s.

We have a dream to be in a world that’s truly free.
We have  dream, a quest, to calm this world’s unrest.
There’ll be a change, you°ll see, for we ...  have a dream.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

This was recorded by The Washington Squares.  On that record the composer was listed by only a misspelled last name “Snaars.”  I only recently discovered it was written by Jasey Schnaars.  (I might have learned this earlier if I’d heard that it had been nominated for a Grammy in 1987.)

Held down by policies of those in power, we’re urged in the song to stand up and band together.  An “Occupy” song written 25 years before the Occupy movement!  And today, once again, it’s become urgently relevant.  I’ve arranged it for fretted dulcimer in the key of D.  Like “Lives In The Balance” above, it’s a song I’d wanna hear sung more often by all sorts of folks.  Use  my lyrics/chords sheet  to play it on other instruments.  It’s not just for dulcimers.  (And the chords in the song’s original key of A are also on page 2 of the .PDF.)

We’ve got so many of us out there on our side.  We’ve got the numbers, we just need to organize.
But if you feel your spirit sinking, grab a phone.  ’Cause you are not alone.  You are not alone...

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [page 1, print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

This one’s a bit different.  It has arrangements (one on each of four pages) of “Summertime” and “Wayfaring Stranger,” both in two keys.  But there’s more text here, written initially for those who had attended my “Blues in A” workshop at the virtual 2020 Kindred Gathering.

My workshop had been on 12-bar major-key blues.  The typical fret arrangement and tuning used by contemporary dulcimer players is better suited for playing 12-bar blues in A than the key of D.  Most, though, don’t seem to know that.  I’d thought Stephen Middleton’s 2019 blues workshop was on 12-bar blues in D. But he said it’d really been mostly on so-called “minor blues” ... “Summertime” in the key of E minor.

Similar to major blues, a typical contemporary dulcimer is better suited to “Summertime” in the key of C♯-minor than in E-minor.  So my “Blues in A” workshop needed an addendum arranging “Summertime” and “Wayfaring Stranger” in C♯-minor.  These songs also show why the extra fret best added to a contemporary dulcimer (after the typical 6½) is a 4½, not a 1½.  So I added arrangements in the better key of B-minor for those of us with a 4½...  (This also adds fuel to a “great 4½ vs. 1½ debate” which Stephen & I have waged.  Both of us hope our extra-fret debate could be informative to those thinking to add another fret beyond the 6½.)

The PDF has YouTube links to 9 versions of “Summertime” & 10 versions of “Wayfaring Stranger.”  I also tell how a 1962 version of “Wayfaring Stranger” by The Limeliters influenced lyrics used by the band H.P. Lovecraft, Tim Buckley and Peter, Paul & Mary (and my own version of the lyrics) by starting to change what the song’s about.  I’d rather sing about living social struggles for justice than about dying and going to heaven...

Another way in which this is different is how you’d need to print these pages.  My other “print-area” PDFs can be printed using either Acrobat’s “Actual size” or “Fit” option.  (Using “Fit” on one picks a scaling percent close to 100%.)  But this different “print-area” PDF needs to be be scaled up to about 132% to fit well on 8½" x 11" paper.  You can use either the “Fit” or “Custom Scale” option to do this.

Summertime, and the livin’ is easy.  Fish are jumpin’, and the cotton is high.

...  <and>  ... 

One of these mornings, and it won’t be long, we shall rise up, stand side by side. 

Download:   .PDF [print-area]  .JPG [page 2, print-area]  .JPG [page 4, print-area]

                       (enlarge PDF to 132% to print on 8½" x 11")

A song by the Canadian group known as Stringband [mostly active 1970s - 1980s].  Written by Marie-Lynn Hammond & Bob Bossin.

     “You know all of your children are down in the city
  Sayin’ ‘Ain’t it a shame and ain’t it a pity.’”

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

A John Gorka song about how work as an employee can be dehumanizing.  Though he uses the word “work” in the song, in one introduction he suggested that “toil” might be a better word...  He quotes Utah Phillips about the difference here:  youtu.be/gHZJofT-vm0&t=1334s .  (I made a small change in the lyrics to include the word “toil” one time.)

    But I was free to wonder and time was on my hands;
    It was mine to burn and to bend.

         Freedom for freedom – call that an even scheme.
        Give me time to wonder and to dream.
        I need the money; they’ll take my time...
    Down to the Land of the Bottom Line – to their Bottom Line.

    ...

    I don’t like work; toil is such a waste.
    But I don’t like waiting for a taste.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

The, uh, spookiest John Gorka song.

       I’m the tapping on your shoulder; I’m the raven in the storm.
      I’ll take shelter in your rafters; I’m the shiver when you’re warm.

...

    I’m the ghost of a traveling salesman; my foot will be there in your door.
    Tho’ I can walk through walls and windows, I will knock just like before.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

In the 1960s, Tom Lehrer thought about the songs sung to remember those who fought in wars.  He realized that any such songs about World War III would need to be written before the war – and so, of course, he came up with one...

      So long, Mom, I’m off to drop the bomb, so don’t wait up for me.
      I But while you swelter, down there in your shelter, you can see me – on your TV.

While we’re attacking frontally, watch Brinkally and Huntally describing contrapuntally the cities we have lost.
No need for you to miss a minute of the agonizing holocaust.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

A Marty Robbins song.

       And the eagle screams down “Stay close to the ground.”
      Man walks among us, be still, be still.  Man walks among us, be still.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

A song by Melissa Etheridge.  Her singing [here] can leave you, well, just saying “Wow!...”  She performs this song in the key of Dm.  My lyrics / chords PDF shows it in the key of Am, as I perform it.

    Don’t you think I know there’s so many others
    Who would beg steal and lie – fight, kill and die – just to hold you, hold you like I do?

       Baby tell me, does he love you like the way I love you; does he stimulate you, attract and captivate you?
      Tell me, does he miss you existing just to kiss you, like the way I do?
      Tell me, does he want you, infatuate and haunt you; does he know just how to shock you, electrify and rock you?
      Does he inject you, seduce you and affect you, like the way I do?

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

A song by Mark Graham.  I sang this years ago and recently re-learned it.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

The best song ever written about being dumped...  It’s by Weird Al Yankovic.  I sang this years ago and recently re-learned it.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

A song by Len Chandler.

   I got a feelin’ in my brain that I’ve gone stark ravin’ sane,”
      ’Cause I will not bow down to genocide.

          And we will not bow down, we will not bow down,
          We will not bow down to genocide.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

A well-known traditional Irish song, covered by many from The Clancy Brothers to The Pogues.  It’s easy to learn.  A rather sad song, but often played in a lively style, especially instrumentally.  I do like it with a more rousing tempo.

(In fact, with a few adjustments in the verse/chorus lengths, I’ve written a new, more rousing anthem for the tune – which you can find at How Anarchy Could Function .)

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

Yes, the BTS song.  K-Pop, but this song’s not from Korea. (It’s actually written by three UK songwriters, including Ed Sheeran, and one Canadian.) The PDF has the song’s chords in two keys, F and D.  (Although I play it in D, I thought at first I’d play it in F, so page 2 of PDFs has the chords I use in D.  In D, it just feels like the song is being shot from a canon...)

     Say: I wanna dance, the music’s got me going. Ain’t nothing that can stop how we move, yeah.
    ...
          Don’t need to talk the talk, just walk the walk tonight.  ’Cause we don’t need permission to dance.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [pg2,print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

In the mid 1960s, Buffy Sainte-Marie wrote and sang the most powerful song about the mistreatment of Native Americans throughout the history of the United States.  (This mistreatment was not confined to the US.  So she later rewrote it to create a version focusing on Canadian history.)

There are links on the lyrics PDF to her performing it live (in the key of C) and to her studio-recorded album version (in the key of B).  The chords in this write up are in the key of G, as I perform it.

     From Los Angeles County to upstate New York, the white nation fattens while others grow lean.
      Ah, the tricked and evicted, they know what I mean:

            My country ’tis of thy people you’re dying.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 14"

As kids we learned how institutional systemic speciesism must be confronted by civil disobedience, engaging conversations to bring about change.  We learned this story of resistance and love. 

This is a good song for a beginner dulcimer player.  And while a beginner can play it using the same chord fingerings for every repetition of the short chord progression, an intermediate player can learn to make a dulcimer backing sound less repetitive by cycling through the four different sets of chord forms I present here.

To make it easier to see those chord fingerings, I have an enlarged view of the chords and dulcimer fingerings on a separate 14" sheet.

Following this simple dulcimer arrangement from these two sheets will also help any player learn how my TAB-like finger position notation works.  This can help any player understand the notation for my more complex arrangements for other songs on this site.

Lyrics / chords, Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

Big  chords, Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 14"

A song by Amber Ruffin.  Brand new (early 2021).  She’s brilliant on late-night TV, but I hadn’t heard a song of hers before.  An intriging subject:

You know how something unexpected might come into your life, throwing it all into chaos.  This interloper may or may not ever engage you intimately.  But the impact of just that possibility is what’s so frightening.  Everything’s at risk:  relationships, customs, work...

I’m quite sure everyone can relate to this now.

   I’m still scared of you, baby;   you still bring me to tears.
  I’ve only known you for twelve months, babe, but it feels like twenty years.
      With tears in my eyes, it’s no surprise   I get down on my knees to say:
      I was scared of you a year ago,   and I’m still scared of you today!

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

My fretted-dulcimer arrangement of Eric Bogle’s “No Man’s Land” (also known as “Green Fields of France”) – beautifully recalling his reflections at the grave of a World War I soldier.

Bob Kanefsky, however, was puzzled that the same Eric Bogle album has this song – which treats a soldier’s death with respect – but also has an irreverent song “Nobody’s Moggy Now” (“moggy” is Australian for “pussy-cat”), where Bogle mocks the highway death of a pet cat.

Kanefsky [songworm.com] says he wanted to have the cat’s death treated with the same respect as the soldier’s...  His parody of, well, the discrepancy between the two songs may not really be any more respectful than Bogle toward the road-kill, but it certainly is funny.  I recommend printing both songs back-to-back on one sheet, but you could just print one of the songs.

 And I can’t help but wonder now, Willie McBride, do all those who lie here know why they died?
Did ya really believe ’em when they told you the cause? Did you really believe that this war would end wars?

  ... <compare with:> ... 

 Old Moggy the cat, I still wonder why you road-kill look so damned surprised when you die.
Did you think that some animal spirit survives?  Did you really believe that you cats have nine lives?

Download:   .PDF   .PDF [print-area]  .JPG [pg1,print-area]  .JPG [pg2,print-area]   for 8½" x 11"

My fretted-dulcimer arrangement of a deliciously dangerous dysfunctional co-dependent country love song by Amy Speace.

The killer in me loves the killer I see in you.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]   to print on 8½" x 11"

...an arrangement for fretted dulcimer of the popular song by Jessie J and B.o.B.

It’s not about the money, money, money.   We don’t need your money, money, money.
We just wanna make the world dance;  forget about the Price Tag.
Ain’t about the – huh – ca-ching, ca-ching.   Ain’t about the – yeah – ba-bling, ba-bling.
Wanna make the world change;  forget about the Price Tag.

Download:    .PDF   .PDF [print-area]   .JPG [print-area]     to print on 8½" x 11"

  · Also, watch me perform the song on YouTube.  (unfortunately, audio quality is poor)

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