Cat Stevens – Moonshadow Lyrics and Chords

I am tired of looking up my favorite songs, such as Cat Stevens’ Moonshadow, and having to search for too long. I also really dislike those lyrics sites that have the ring tones pop ups!  So, I am collecting my favorite songs  just so I can have my own chords and lyrics cheat sheet right here on my site, guitarfingerpicking.org.   I hope other people like some of this music too (so they can use the pages to print out the lyrics and chords). other people could use them too. The chords I am posting may not be the most popular chords (I’ll show the chords I prefer to use). Of course, I often use a capo, so keep that in mind if you find the key is one you can’t sing in!

This is just too good not to add – Youtube video of Cat singing Moonshadow. Nice combination of fingerpicking and strumming in a song, too.

Moonshadow – by Cat Stevens

D                                                    A7     D
Oh, I’m bein’ followed by a moonshadow,

G                              A7    D        
moon shadow, moonshadow

D                                              A7       D
Leapin and hoppin’ on a moonshadow,

G                            A7     D
moonshadow, moonshadow

G     D   G    D         G
And if I ever lose my hands,

D       G           Em       A7
lose my plough, lose my land,

G     D   G    D         G
Oh if I ever lose my hands, 

    Em A7 D F#m Bm  
Oh if————-

Em                  A         D
I won’t have to work no more.

And if I ever lose my eyes,
if my colours all run dry,
Yes if I ever lose my eyes,
oh if….
I wont have to cry no more.

And if I ever lose my legs,
I wont moan, and I wont beg,
Yes if I ever lose my legs,
oh if…. I wont have to walk no more.
And if I ever lose my mouth,
all my teeth, north and south,
Yes if I ever lose my mouth,
oh if….
I wont have to talk…

Did it take long to find me?
I asked the faithful light.
Did it take long to find me?
and are you gonna stay the night?

I just want to point out that by posting music by Cat Stevens, A.K.A. Yusuf Islam (and his birthname is Steven Georgiou), I am not making a political statement. What he believes is not something I wish to comment on – this blog is about love and peace, so don’t come in and post nasty comments (which i have seen where his music is posted). Let’s just enjoy the music, ok?

Technorati Tags: Cat Stevens, chords, favorites, fingerpicking, guitar, lyrics, moonshadow, Yusuf Islam

Suzanne by Leonard Cohen – Judy Collins Audio and Song Lyrics

Suzanne is a beautiful song written by Leonard Cohen. My favorite recording was by Judy Collins who’s lovely voice gave the song a haunting quality. It is a good song for guitar fingerpicking – one of my favorites to play on guitar. Hear how great Judy sounds in the audio clip at the bottom of this post.

Suzanne Lyrics and chords:

G
Suzanne takes you down
To her place by the river,
Am
You can hear the boats go by,
You can spend the night beside her,
G
And you know that she’s half crazy,
And that’s why you want to be there;
Bm
And she feeds you tea and oranges
C
That come all the way from China;
G
And just when you mean to tell her
That you have no love to give her,
Am
She gets you on her wave-length
And lets the river answer
G
That you’ve always been her lover.

Chorus:
Bm
And you want to travel with her,
C
And you want to travel blind,
G
And you know that you can trust her,
Am
For you’ve touched her perfect body
G            Am
With your mind.

And Jesus was a sailor
When He walked upon the water,
And he spent a long time watching
From a lonely wooden tower,
And when he knew for certain
Only drowning men could see Him,
He said, “All men shall be brothers, then,
Until the sea shall free them,”
But He himself was broken
Long before the sky would open,
Forsaken, almost human,
He sank beneath your wisdom
Like a stone.

Chorus:
And you want to travel with Him,
And you want to travel blind,
And you think you maybe trust Him,
For He’s touched your perfect body
With His mind.

Suzanne takes you down
To her place by the river,
You can hear the boats go by,
You can spend the night forever,
And the sun pours down like honey,
On our lady of the harbour;
And she shows you where to look
Amid the garbage and the flowers.
There are heroes in the seaweed,
There are children in the morning,
They are leaning out for love,
And they will lean that way forever,
While Suzanne holds the mirror.

Chorus (with Judy Collins’ variation on the lyrics):
And you want to travel with her,
And you want to travel blind,
And you think maybe you’ll trust her,
For she’s touched your perfect body
With her mind.

There don’t seem to be many online videos of Judy Collins singing this. I found one of the best recordings on a little known site: Wolfgang’s Vault. I really like this site for hard to find music – their focus is on rock ‘n roll memorabilia and concerts. Here the audio of a live 1973 concert (Masonic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA) with Judy Collins singing Suzanne while playing guitar.

Legendary concert performances available for download at Wolfgang’s Vault

Technorati Tags: audio, Guitar Fingerpicking, Judy Collins, Leonard Cohen, live concert, recording, song, songs, Suzanne

Favorite Women Blues Songwriters

Women who were pioneers in blues music. There is so much to be said for a couple of early guitar fingerpicking folk/blues musicians who happen to both be African American women (and both were born in North Carolina). I had to give them a page here on my blog because they have inspired and influenced me.

One is Elizabeth Cotten – see her play in this video where she is 92 years old playing her most famous song Freight Train. (Sometimes her name is misspelled as Cotton.)

She wrote that song when she was 12 after she taught herself to play the guitar. You can’t really see it in the video, but she is left-handed but playing a right-handed guitar upside down. That is one amazing woman!

Another blues or folk pioneer was Etta Baker. Here she is in an interview with David Holt.

Etta’s music is called Piedmont blues. She also played guitar into her 90s!

I hope enjoy watching these ladies play as much as I do!

Technorati Tags: Acoustic Guitar Fingerpicking, blues, Elizabeth Cotten, Etta Baker, folk, Freight Train, Guitar Fingerpicking, Railroad Bill, songs, video