From: lrw@maggot.gg.caltech.edu (Len Wanger)
Newsgroups: alt.guitar.tab
Subject: Re: REQ: John Gorka (esp. "Mercy of the Wheels")
Date: 31 Dec 1992 10:31:57 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Distribution: all
NNTP-Posting-Host: maggot.gg.caltech.edu

In <1hohldINN21d@tamsun.tamu.edu> e343gv@tamuts.tamu.edu (Gary Varner) writes:

>Anybody got chords and/or tab to John Gorka songs? 
>I guess I'm especially interested in "The Mercy of the Wheels,"
>since I just played it and wanted to cry . . . 

Here are chords/tablature for three John Gorka songs. If you want to
hear them they can be found on the following John Gorka albums:
 
  Silence and Mercy of the Wheels from the album Jack's Crows
    High Street Records 72902 10309
 
  Love is Our Cross to Bear from the album I know
    Red House Record RHR CD18 (also on Land of the Bottom Line -
	Windham Hill WD 1089)
 
If anyone else has worked out any other Gorka songs (particularly
I Saw a Stranger with Your Hair, Semper Fi, Full of Life, and
the One That Got Away) please let me know - or better yet post
them.
 
Have fun
 
Len Wanger
lrw@egg.gg.caltech.edu
 
------------------------------------------------------------------- 
 
Silence
-------
 
E                B
I met her in the Summertime
         A    B                  E
When her arms we're the color of silence
B           A    B               E  B
So blue her eyes A new horizon
 
 
A      B                    A
And so I walked that way
       B                    A
And I  talked that way too
       B            A       B
And I  found my way through
       E      B     A  B
To her silence    whoa
       E      B     A  B
To her silence    whoa
 
 
   E                 B
My heart was full of bitterness
   A    B              E
So dark and so close to violence
B          A      B      
The ace of spades Turned upside down
 
 
A       B                   A
Nothing beat in my hopeless chest
        B            A
I could not detect a sound
        B                A
But she would not let me rest
B           E      B     A  B
Bound to my silence     whoa
            E      B     A  B
Bound to my silence     whoa
 
 
E             B
Love came unexpectedly
        A        B        E  
Late to the bill an added attraction
B          A     B 
The way it goes  the way it stays
 
 
A        B          A    B                A
And when she is far away Still I feel her here
     B                  A
Ever since she made the day
        B             A      B 
And the lonely man disappear
          E      B    A  B
Into that silence   whoa
          E       B   A  B
Into that silence   whoa
 
 
Love is Out Cross to Bear
-------------------------
 
Notes:
 - Capo at 1st fret for the album
 - 0h2 = hit the open string and then hammer-on the 2nd fret.
 - To play the D chord progression I generally use my 4th
  finger (pinky) to add the C# and wrap my thumb around to
  play the B in this progression. This leaves you in good
  position to play the bass run (i.e. the hammer on's) with
  your thumb also.
 
Tablature for the verses: (Note this is more similar to the
version from I know than Land of the Bottom Line). In LotBL
he adds strums in to break up the pattern a bit
 
     D              D/C#            D/B
 ===========     ===========     ===========
 | | | | | |     | | | | | |     | | | | | |
 -----------     -----------     -----------
 | | | 1 | 2     | | | 1 | 2     | T | 1 | 2
 -----------     -----------     -----------
 | | | | 3 |     | | | | 3 |     | | | | 3 |
 -----------     -----------     -----------
 | | | | | |     | 4 | | | |     | | | | | |
 
 D                  D/C#              D/B
-2---------2-----|--2---------2-----|--2---------2-----|-
-------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|--------3-------3-|-
-----2-------2---|------2-------2---|------2-------2---|-
-0-------0-------|------------------|------------------|-
-----------------|--4-------4-------|--2-------2-------|-
-----------------|------------------|------------------|-
 |   |   |   |      |   |   |   |      |   |   |   | 
 
                    G
-2---------------|--3---------------|--3---------------|-
-----------------|------------0-----|------------0-----|-
-----------------|--------0-------0-|--------0-------0-|-
-------------0---|------0-------0---|------0-------0---|-
-2-------0h2-----|------------------|------------------|-
-----0h2---------|--3-------3-------|--3-------3-------|-
 |   |   |   |      |   |   |   |      |   |   |   | 
 
 A                                    D repeat from beginning
-----------------|------------------|------------------|-
-2---------2-----|--2---------------|------------------|-
-------2-------2-|------------------|------------------|-
-----2-------2---|----------0h2-0---|------------------|-
-0-------0-------|--0---0h2---------|------------------|-
-----------------|------------------|------------------|-
 |   |   |   |      |   |   |   |      |   |   |   | 
 
The chorus uses the same picking pattern (left as an exercise
for the reader). 
 
D             D/C#              D/B
I didn't know where to look for you last night
G                      A
I didn't know where to find you
D                D/C#         D/B
I didn't know if I could ever touch that light
G                       A
That's always gathering behind you
 
D                D/C#         D/B
I didn't know if I could ever find a way
G                  A
To find you in the morning
D               D/C#            D/B
But as love can lift you out of yesterday
G                       A
As it takes you without warning
 
D              D/C#      D/B
I want to be a long time friend to you
G                        A
I want to be a long time known
D               D/C#     D/B
Not one of your memories used to be's
G                 A
A summer's fading song
 
Chorus:
 
G                A                 D
It's from me, to you it's for your eyes
                 G              A
It's a weight, a wonder that is wise
D D/C# D/B   D   D/C# D/B
I am   here, you are  there
G           A        D
Love is out cross to bear
G           A        D
 
D           D/C#        D/B
I know I'll think of us upon that hill
G                     A
With the golden move arising
D       D/C#             D/B
And the stars will fall around us still
G                 A
As the love is realizing
 
D            D/C#     D/B
And so it is until we meet again
G                    A
And I throw my arms around you
D       D/C#                 D/B
You can count the grey hairs in my head
G                             A
I'll still be thankful that I found you
 
Chorus:
 
G                A                 D
It's from me, to you it's for your eyes
                 G              A
It's a weight, a wonder that is wise
D D/C# D/B   D   D/C# D/B
I am   here, you are  there
G           A        D
Love is out cross to bear
G           A        D
Love is out cross to bear
 
 
The Mercy of the Wheels
-----------------------
Note: Use the same picking pattern as above in Love is Our Cross
to Bear.
 
D                       Bm
I heard a train calling through the middle of the night 
            Em              D            G      A
I heard the whistle and the mercy of the wheels
       D                            Bm
It's a hand to mouth existence in a mouth to nothing world
      Em              D             G    A
I was longing for the way I used to feel
 
Chorus:
 
G                   A                D          G
I'd like to catch a train that could go back in time
           Em            D               G  A
That could make a lot of stops along the way
        G            A               D                  G
I would go to see my father with the eyes he left behind
        Em             D                 G  A
I would go for all the words I'd like to say
        G            A              D             G
And I'd take along a sandwich and a picture of my girl
    Em                 D          G  A
And show them all that I made out OK
 
D                       Bm
I heard a train calling through the middle of the night
      Em            D                  G  A
And I wondered if I should have gotten on
D                                    Bm
Cause a train knows where it's going and when it's time to go
    Em                      D            G    A
And that it looks best when it's already gone
 
D                       Bm
I heard a train calling through the middle of a dream
      Em                   D                G  A
And I wandered through the weeds as it went by
       D                                Bm       
Oh the trains they have the numbers the nicknames and the nights
          Em         D            G   A
They know it's OK to run away and cry
 
Chorus:
 
D                       Bm
I heard a train calling through the middle of the night
            Em              D            G      A
I heard the whistle and the mercy of the wheels