Red Right Ankle
Words & Music:
Colin Meloy (The
Decemberists)
This is transcribed in the
August 2007 issue of Acoustic Guitar. This version in G is correct. Ideally, you want to keep the D going as a drone in all the
G & Em chords by keeping a finger on the 3rd fret of the B
string.
G/F# G G/F# G
G/F#
G
G/F#
G
This is the story of your red
right ankle, and how it came to meet your leg
And how the muscle bone and
sinews tangled, and how the skin was softly shed
Em
A
Em7
A Asus4 A
And how it whispered,
"Oh, adhere to me, for we are bound by symmetry.
Em7
A
Asus4 D G
G/F#
And whatever differences our
lives have been--, we together make a limb"
Em7
A
G/F# G G/F# G
This is the story of your red
right ankle
This is the story of your
gypsy uncle, you never knew cause he was dead
And how his face was carved
and ripped wrinkles, in the picture in your head
And remember how you found the
key, to his hideout in the Pyrenees
But you wanted to keep his
secret safe, so you threw the key away
This is the story of your
gypsy uncle
INTERLUDE: Em7 Em9 A Asus4 A Em Em9 Em A Asus2/4 A A6 A
This is the story of the boys
who loved you, who love you now & loved you then
And some were sweet and some
were cold and snuffed you, and some just laid around in bed
And had crumbled you straight
to your knees, did it cruel did it tenderly
And some had crawled their way
into your heart, to rend your ventricles apart
This is the story of the boys
who loved you
OUTRO:
Bm11 G/A G G/F#
Em7
A D
This is the story of your red
right ankle