Elephant - Jason Isbell

Elephant

View chords used in this chart
Capo IV
 
Chords (relative to capo):
 
Em7 G6 A7sus Cadd9 Dsus2 Dsus2/F#
e|---0---0-----0------0------0--------0-----|
B|---3---3-----3------3------3--------3-----|
G|---0---0-----0------0------2--------2-----|
D|---0---0-----2------2------0--------0-----|
A|---2---2-----0------3------x--------x-----|
E|---0---3-----x------x------x--------2-----|
 
(Please don't tell my college music professors if I got any of those chord name wrong.)
 
It sounds like he is doing some hammer-ons with the A string on the Em7 and the
low E string on the G6 Listen to the record for the timing. Let me know if I got anything wrong.
 
Intro:
Em7 G6 A7sus
 
verse 1:
Em7 G6 A7sus
She said Andy you're better than your past,
Em7 G6 A7sus
winked at me and drained her glass,
Em7 G6 A7sus Em7 G6 A7sus
cross-legged on the barstool, like nobody sits anymore.
 
Em7 G6 A7sus
She said Andy you're taking me home,
Em7 G6 A7sus
but I knew she planned to sleep alone.
Em7 G6 A7sus Em7 G6 A7sus
I'd carry her to bed and sweep up the hair from the floor
 
[Refrão] Cadd9 Dsus2
If I had fucked her before she got sick
G6 Dsus/F# Em7
I'd never hear the end of it
Cadd9 Dsus Em7
she don't have the spirit for that now
Cadd9 Dsus2
We drink these drinks and laugh out loud,
G6 Dsus/F# Em7
bitch about the weekend crowd,
Cadd9 Dsus Em7 G6 A7sus
and try to ignore the elephant somehow
Em7 G6 A7sus
somehow
 
Verse:
She said Andy you crack me up,
Seagrams in a coffee cup,
sharecropper eyes and her hair almost all gone.
When she was drunk she made cancer jokes,
she made up her own doctor's notes,
surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone.
 
Chorus:
I'd sing her classic country songs
and she'd get high and sing along.
She don't have much voice to sing with now
 
We'd burn these joints in effegy,
cry about what we used to be,
and try to ignore the elephant somehow.
Somehow
 
Chorus:
I buried her a thousand times,
giving up my place in line,
but I don't give a damn about that now
 
There's one thing that's real clear to me,
no one dies with dignity.
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.
We just try to ignore the elephant somehow.
Somehow.
Somehow.

How to play Elephant

Use the controls above to change the key and text size. Follow the highlighted chords while listening, then practice each section slowly before playing at the original tempo.

What is the starting chord?

The first identified chord is Em7. You can transpose without leaving the page.

Can I play it on guitar or keyboard?

Yes. The chord progression works on acoustic guitar, electric guitar and keyboard. Adapt the voicings to your instrument and level.

More chords by Jason Isbell

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