Half the World Away
Notes on playing:
1) This song (as it appears on the CD) is a mixture of an accoustic guitar strumming the chords, and an electric guitar picking out notes in the chord over the top (though much quieter than the accoustic guitar). In most cases, just strumming the chord will suffice, though in a couple of places you may want to try and strum/pick the chord to get a bit closer to the sound of this song (see next note).
2) The trickiest bit in this song (to me anyway) is the D7sus4 chord at the end of each verse. In a similar way with "Talk Tonight" I feel that the correct way to play this is probably a mixture of strumming and picking. In other transcriptions of this song I have seen this chord given as D7 or Dsus2, but listening to the song, I feel that either of these chords don't work on their own, if purely strummed and not picked.
A simpler way to play it might be as follows:
D7 F
-2--3--2--0---1-----
-1------------1-----
-2------------2-----
-0------------3-----
-0------------1-----
3) The Am chord preceding the D7sus4, also has a little riff played on the electric guitar which you could play to lead into the D7sus4 chord. So you could pick both these, picking the Am chord and then picking out the other notes in the D7sus4 chord,to lead into the F chord. E.g.
Am D7 F
-------------------3-2-----1---
-------0-1-------1-----1---1---
-----2-----2---2---------2-2---
---2---------0-------------3---
-0-------------------------3---
-x-------------------------1---
4) The picking of the open B string in the Am chord, also seems to happen again after the E7 chord is played in the chorus, although maybe slightly differently from before, as in:
E7 Am
-------------------
---------1-0-1-----
-1-------------2---
-0-----2-----------
-2---0-------------
-0-----------------
5) Additional comment (where appropriate) are enclosed in asterisks.
Chords
Numbers refer to fret positions on each of the six (EADGBe) strings.
C 032010
Fmaj7 033210
C/B 022010
Am 002210
D7sus4 x00213
E7 020100
F 133211
Fm 133111
G 355433
G7 355453
The Song
Intro:
C Fmaj7
C Fmaj7
Verse:
C Fmaj7
I would like to leave this city
C Fmaj7
This old town don't smell too pretty and
C C/B Am D7sus4 F
I can feel the warning signs running around my mind
C Fmaj7 C Fmaj7
And when I leave this island I'll book myself into a soul asylum
C C/B Am D7sus4 F
Cause I can feel the warning signs running around my mind
Chorus:
Am C E7 Am
So here I go still scratching around in the same old hole
F Fm G G7
My body feels young but my mind is very old
Am C
So what do you say?
E7 Am
You can't give me the dreams that are mine anyway
F
You're half the world away
Fm
Half the world away
C C/B Am
Half the world away
D7sus4 F
I've been lost I've been found but I don't feel down.
F *for 2 bars*
Verse:
C Fmaj7
And when I leave this planet
C Fmaj7
You know I'd stay, but I just can't stand it
C C/B Am D7sus4 F
I can feel the warning signs running around my mind
C Fmaj7
And if I could leave this spirit
C Fmaj7
I'll find me a hole and I'd live in it
C C/B Am D7sus4 F
And I can feel the warning signs running around my mind
Chorus:
Am C E7 Am
So here I go I'm still scratching around the same old hole
F Fm G G7
My body feels young but my mind is very old
Am C
So what do you say?
E7 Am
You can't give me the dreams that are mine anyway
F
You're half the world away
Fm
Half the world away
C C/B Am
Half the world away
D7sus4 F
I've been lost I've been found but I don't feel down.
Outro:
F
No, I don't feel down
F
No, I don't feel down
F *for 1 bar*
C Fmaj7
Don't feel down *fainter*
C Fmaj7
Don't feel down
C Fmaj7
Don't feel down
C Fmaj7
Don't feel down *hold the word "down" for the next 3 bars or so*
C Fmaj7
C Fmaj7
C Fmaj7 *repeat to fade when vocals have finished*