E|------2---------2-|
B|------3-----3-----|
G|------2-------2---|
D|--0---0-----------|
A|----------0-------|
E|------------------|
That could be very wrong, if anyone has anything better let me know! I believe it is also this or something
similar that is played for most of the song.
In some places it can be heard clearly-(ish) and sounds more like this:
E|------2---------2-|
B|------3-------3---|
G|------2-----2-----|
D|--0---0-----------|
A|----------0-------|
E|------------------|
Also, Stan seems to use an odd tuning for most of his songs, but I could not tell if this was one of them,
I tried to use it but couldn't make it work. His tuning is a variation of DADGAD and can be decently
replicated as such. From what I can tell his exact tuning is: DADGBD.
Anyway, with due apologies to my fellow Albertans and Ontarians, but no apologies to Morris Dancers, here is
my rendition of The Idiot by Stan Rogers.
[Intro] (D Chord)
E|----------------2-|----------2--------|
B|--------------3---|----------3--------|
G|------------2-----|----------2--------|
D|--0---0---0-------|--0---0---0--------|
A|------------------|-------------------|
E|------------------|-------------------|
[Verse]
DABmGBm
I often take these night shift walks when the foreman's not around.
GDA
I turn my back on the cooling stacks and make for open ground.
DABmGBm
Far out beyond the tank farm fence where the gas flare makes no sound,
GDAGD
I forget the stink and I always think back to that Eastern town.
[Verse]
DABmGBm
I remember back six years ago, this Western life I chose.
GDA
And every day, the news would say some factory's going to close.
DABmGBm
Well, I could have stayed to take the Dole, but I'm not one of those.
GDAGD
I take nothing free, and that makes me an idiot, I suppose.
[Chorus]
GDD/AA
So I bid farewell to the Eastern town I never more will see;
GDA
But work I must so I eat this dust and breathe refinery.
DABmGBm
Oh I miss the green and the woods and streams and I don't like cowboy clothes;
GDAD
But I like being free and that makes me an idiot I suppose.
[Break] (same as verse with a fiddle playing the melody)
DABmGBmGDADABmGBmGDAD
[Verse]
DBmGBm
So come all you fine young 'fellers who've been beaten to the ground.
GDA
This western life's no paradise, but it's better than lying down.
DABmGBm
Oh, the streets aren't clean, and there's nothing green, and the hills are dirty brown,
GDAD
But the government Dole will rot your soul back there in your home town.
[Chorus]
GDD/AA
So bid farewell to the Eastern town you never more will see.
GDA
There's self-respect and a steady cheque in this refinery.
DABmGBm
You will miss the green and the woods and streams and the dust will fill your nose.
GDAD
But you'll be free, and just like me, an idiot, I suppose