MONKEY & BEAR – JOANNA NEWSOM This one takes a bit of practise. If the chords don’t sound quite right, have a listen to the individual notes that Joanna The Cm section is technically correct, it’s just a little difficult to explain. Don’t the Cm as a barre chord, play it like this : x310xx so that the Eb (or the ‘1’) moves up an E when you play the C chord. That entire chord section is used to illustrate that which is awkward to transcribe to guitar. It works though, just give it a bit of work. CAPO 5 (Am G F down in the green hay A G D) where monkey and bear usually lay Am F Am they woke from a stable-boy's cry Am G F he said; someone come quick! A G D the horses got loose, got grass-sick! Am F Am they'll founder! fain, they'll die Cm C Cadd9 E Esus4 E what is now known by the sorrel and the roan? Esus4 E Esus4 Eadd9 E E by the chestnut, and the bay, and the gelding grey? Am G D it is: stay by the gate you are given C G F and remain in your place, for your season Am G C and had the overfed dead but listened F G A to that high-fence, horse-sense, wisdom... Am G F D "did you hear that, Bear?" said monkey G D D/A we'll get out of here, fair and square Am F Am they've left the gate open wide! Am so; D my bride Am D here is my hand, where is your paw? Am D try and understand my plan, Ursala Am D my heart is a furnace Am D full of love that's just, and earnest Am D now; you know that we must unlearn this Am D allegiance to a life of service Am D and no longer answer to that heartless Am D hay-monger, nor be his accomplice Am D (that charlatan, with artless hustling!) Am D but; Ursala, we've got to eat something Am D and earn our keep, while still within Am D the borders of the land that man has girded Am D (all double-bolted and tightfisted!) Am D until we reach the open country Am D a-steeped in milk and honey Am D will you keep your fancy clothes on, for me? Am D can you bear a little longer to wear that leash? Am D my love, I swear by the air I breathe: Am C F Am sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth Am D but for now, just dance, darling Am E c'mon, will you dance, my darling? Am C darling, there's a place for us F D can we go, before I turn to dust? Am C F Am oh my darling, there's a place for us Am D oh darling Am E c'mon will you dance, my darling? Am C oh, the hills are groaning with excess F D like a table ceaselessly being set Am C F Am oh my darling, we will get there yet Am G F they trooped past the guards, A G D (F, G) past the coops, and the fields, and the farmyards Am F Am all night, till finally: Am G F the space they gained grew A G D (F, G) much farther than the stone that bear threw Am F Am to mark where they'd stop for tea Cm C Cadd9 but walk a little faster E Esus4 E Esus4 and don't look backwards E Esus4 E Eadd9 E Eadd9 your feast is to the East, which lies a little past the E pasture Am G F when the blackbirds hear tea whistling, they rise and clap C G F and their applause caws the kettle black Am G C and we can't have none of that! Am G D move along, Bear; there, there; that?s that Am G F (though cast in plaster A G D (F, G) our Ursala's heart beat faster Am F Am than monkey's ever will) Am D but still; Am D they have got to pay the bills Am D hadn't they? Am D that is what the monkey'd say Am D Am so, with the courage of a clown, or a cur D Am or a kite, jerking tight at its tether D Am in her dun-brown gown of fur D Am and her jerkin of swan's down and leather D Am Bear would sway on her hind legs; D Am the organ would grind dregs of song, for the pleasure D of the children, who'd shriek Am throwing coins at her feet D Am then recoiling in terror D sing, dance, darling Am E c'mon, will you dance, my darling? Am C oh darling, there's a place for us F D can we go, before I turn to dust? Am C F Am oh my darling, there?s a place for us Am D oh darling Am E c'mon, will you dance, my darling? Am C you keep your eyes fixed on the highest hill F D where you'll ever-after eat your fill Am C F D oh my darling, dear, mine Am if you dance C F Am dance, darling, and i love you still Am deep in the night shone a weak and miserly light where the monkey shouldered his lamp someone had told him the bear had been wandering a fair piece away from where they were camped someone had told him the bear'd been sneaking away to the seaside caverns, to bathe and the thought troubled the monkey for he was afraid of spelunking down in those caves also afraid what the village people would say if they saw the bear in that state; lolling and splashing obscenely well, it seemed irrational, really; washing that face washing that matted and flea-bit pelt in some sea-spit-shine, old kelp dripping with brine but monkey just laughed, and he muttered; when she comes back, Ursala will be bursting with pride 'til I jump up! saying: you've been rolling in muck! saying: you smell of garbage and grime! but far out far out by now by now far out, by now, Bear ploughed 'cause she would not drown: first the outside-legs of the bear up and fell down, in the water, like knobby garters then the outside-arms of the bear fell off, as easy as if sloughed from boiled tomatoes low'red in a genteel curtsy bear shed the mantle of her diluvian shoulders; and, with a sigh, she allowed the burden of belly to drop like an apronfull of boulders if you could hold up her threadbare coat to the light where it's worn translucent in places you'd see spots where almost every night of the year Bear had been mending suspending that baseness now her coat drags through the water bagging, with a life's-worth of hunger, limitless minnows in the magnetic embrace balletic and glacial of Bear's insatiable shadow left there! left there! when Bear left Bear left there! left there! when Bear stepped clear of Bear Am, G, F, A, G, D (F, Am, F, G Am C F Am (sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth...)