Am7
In the quiet, s
Bm7
ilent seconds I
Am7
I turned off the ligh
Bm7
t switch and I
Cmaj7
I came down to
Bm7
meet
you
in the
Dm7
half-light the
E7
moon left while a
Am7
cluster of nig
Bm7
ht jars sang some
Am7
songs
o
Bm7
ut of tune.
Cmaj7
A mantel of
Bm7
bright light shone
Dm7
down from her
E7
room
Fmaj7
Come down i
Em7
n time,
Dm7
I still
Cmaj7
hear her say
Fmaj7
So clear
Em7
in my ear,
Dm7
like it
Cmaj7
was
today.
Fmaj7
Come down in
Ab
time was the
Cmaj7
message
Bm7
she
Am7
gave
Gm7
Fmaj7
Come down in
Ebmaj7
time and I’ll
Dm7
meet you half
F
way
C/G
.
D
Well, I don’t know if I should have
heard her as yet but a
a true love like ours is a
a hard love to get and I
I’ve walked most all the way and I
I ain’t heard her call and I
I’m getting to thinking if she’s
coming at all.
Fmaj7
Come down i
Em7
n time,
Dm7
I still
Cmaj7
hear her say
Fmaj7
So clear
Em7
in my ear,
Dm7
like it
Cmaj7
was
today.
Fmaj7
Come down in
Ab
time was the
Cmaj7
message
Bm7
she
Am7
gave
Gm7
Fmaj7
Come down in
Ebmaj7
time and I’ll
Dm7
meet you half
F
way
C/G
.
D
Am7
There are women
Bm7
and women and
Am7
some
h
Bm7
old you tight while
Cmaj7
some leave you c
Bm7
ounting
the
Em7
stars in the nig
Bm7
ht
i like to learn elton john chords on the Rock of the westies from 1975
and too low for ztero in 1983 all the elon john chords on a gutiar from daniel clapham
The Bm7 in the verses doesnt make if for me. Replace with D, harmonizes better with Dm in bridge part.
Good work, but the last chord is not Bm7. Leave out the
third and the seventh and you’ve got it. Just notes B natural and F
sharp. On piano B natural then F sharp, other hand same thing an
octave higher.
This is favorite for me since I heard my brother, Cy Timmons, sing it in his nightclub in Atlanta, CAFE EREWHON. So unlike most Elton John entries. It’s sparse storytelling in song at its best by Bernie. Also the chords are remarkable in that they appear to be in two keys at once, I believe C and F, maybe A, though the song predominates in minor chords that never cease to surprise.
One correction: the second Bm is actually a Dmaj., which adds variety and “heft” to the sequence. Try it; you’ll like it.
Yeah for sure, the Bm would sound great. I usually play Dmaj7 with Bm on the bass 🙂
I love the early records of this song. There are some awesome early versions that are live radio recordings that you can find on YouTube.
One more comment: I always heard this song performed with “gaggle of night jaws” rather than “cluster”. Have to check a book on ornithology I suppose to know which is correct. Poetically, “gaggle” flows better, don’t you think?
yeah gaggle would work!
you don’t change a great song’s lyrics because you think it’s better, you dope…lol…part of the brilliance of the lyric is that it is unique…you can interpret it any way you want, but you don’t change a lyric or writer’s words, especially someone of renown because you think it sounds just as good or better…that’s the ultimate slight to the artist…
To Bernie T.
Damn right. Especially as the original lyric is “A cluster of nightjars sang some songs out of tune”, not “night jaws”.
Although something that must be acknowledged is that Elton didn’t always sing the published lyric.
The line “There are woman and women and” was sung that way on the demo but not on the album, where he omitted the first “and”.