Counting Crows - God of ocean tides
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Tuning: E A D G B E
Dan fingerpicks this song. I have tabbed out the intro because it gives a pretty good
representation of the pattern and variations he uses throughout the song. The bass is
played by alternating the thumb between the lowest and second lowest string every 1/4
note. When he does the walkdown during the verses ["And I buy all my days"], he seems to
only hit the bass note of each chord so I have notated it as such.
In the "chorus", for lack of a better term, the D-G-D-G parts ["All night long"], he
strums the chords.
Now on to the bridge. It gets sort of difficult here because the second guitar starts
playing a big part and there is also more occasional strumming. At "colored lights", a very
distinctive picking pattern appears and I have written it out there. The chord names
represent those picking patterns until the end of the bridge, at which point you can return
to normal chord forms. You can barre the first two forms but make sure not to hit that D
string. Sorry if it is confusing, but I promise I could have made it much worse.
I hope my tab does this beautiful song justice.
*Lyrics adapted from LyricsMania.com
[Intro]
C
e|----------------|-------0-------|---------------|-----------------|
B|--1---------0---|-3---------3---|-----------0---|-----------------|
G|--------0-------|---------------|-------0-------|-------0---------|
D|------2-------2-|-----2-------2-|-----2-------2-|-----2-----2---2-|
A|--3-------3-----|-3-------3-----|-3-------3-----|-3-------3---3---|
E|----------------|---------------|---------------|-----------------|
[Verse 1]
GClose the door on a short night
DLift the lid on the daylight
Em6:09 West TennesseeC time
C /B /A G
And I buy all my days
GAt the Dsame place where the girl sells her Cnights
C /B /A G
To a God of ocean tides.
[Chorus]
DAll Gnight Dlong,
GWriting Cpoems to CaliGfornia
EmMelodies of failure
And the Ampeople I have thrown
A - Dway, GmeanDwhile, Gsomewhere Cwest of CaroGlina
In a Emcongregation of strangers
We are A7digging holes to China
Then we Cpray to our reflections
In the Cwater when it rises.
[Verse 2]
I said Gheadlights pin the highway down
DJesus spins the world around
And I’ll Emspend all my tomorrows coming Cdown
C /B /A G
Goodbye all my days.
I know I Dsaid I never loved you
C C /B /A G
But I might just try again tonight.
[Bridge]
D/BTruck stops and Criver gods
Gas Dstations of the GCross
DFollowing a ghost,
AmFollowing a ghost,
I Cpray the water Dwash away
The Emmemories aDnd the cCmaj7ost.
DCarry me soGuth, to the Cadd9sea
D/EAlong with your Gmemories of Cmaj7me
We are Dborn in the Gwater
G /A /B Cadd9
And I will re-turn to Thee.
Csus2
e|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|
B|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|
G|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
D|------5-------5---|------5-------5---|------5-------5---|------5-------5---|
A|--3-------3-------|--3-------3-------|--3-------3-------|--3-------3-------|
E|------------------|------------------|------------=-----|------------=-----|
G5/D
e|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|----3-------3-----|
B|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|
G|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
D|------5-------5---|------5-------5---|------5-------5---|------5-------5---|
A|--5-------5-------|--5-------5-------|--5-------5-------|--5-------5-------|
E|------------------|------------------|------------=-----|------------=-----|
G[2]
e|----7-------7-----|----7-------7-----|----7-------7-----|----7-------7-----|
B|--------8-------8-|--------8-------8-|--------8-------8-|--------8-------8-|
G|------------------|------------------|------------------|------------------|
D|------9-------9---|------9-------9---|------9-------9---|------9-------9---|
A|--10-----10-------|--10------10------|--10-----10-------|--10------10------|
E|------------------|------------------|------------=-----|------------=-----|
Csus2Colored lights
And G5/Dbirthday cakes
Csus2Candle wax
G[2]
On paper plates.
Csus2Breathe the water
G[2]
Hush-a-bye, hush-a-bye.
You can Csus2see through water
G[2]
All the way up to the sky.
[Verse 3]
GGods of water, gods of rain
DCover up the sun again
We are Emcrossing at the MississippiC line
C /B /A G
And I tried all my days
DTo love you just the way you hoped I Cmight,
C /B /A G
But I’m leaving here to-night.
I Dcan’t remember yesterday
C C /B /A G
I tried, if I said I could
GI lied.
[Outro]
Em7 Em7[2]
Cmaj7 C Cmaj7 Cadd9 [Strummed end riff]
[Chords]
Verse/Chorus
C X32010
G 320033
D XX0232
Em 022000
Am X02210
A7 X02020
Bridge
D/B X2023X
Cmaj7 X32000
Cadd9 X32030
D/E 0X0232
Csus2 X35X33
G5/D X55X33
G[2] X[10]9X87
Outro
Em7 020000
Em7[2] 020003