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Billy Joel - Leningrad CHORDS by Bofjas
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Key: D
Works for piano/guitar, though guitarplayers
would heavily rely on a bass player.
The Song is divided into two chord
progressions og "patterns" if you prefer that.
We will call them Pattern A & Pattern B.
Lyrics below are marked with the pattern to follow.
For those who doesn't know. "C/G" means you play
a "C", but the bass goes on a "G". So if you wanna
play this alone on one guitar, you will have to
change the chord or your strumming so that the
lowest of the strings in motion will represent
the bass (i.t.c "G")
For example:
To play "C/G" you would play a normal open C, but
but hit the low E string on the 3rd fret with you pinky.
(Low E 3rd fret = G)
Hehe... okey... now then.. the chords!
Intro chords (Piano Only, but works for guitar too ;) )
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D A/D D D A
Em B/E Em Em B
G G D D G G A/D A7 Bm G A A7 D
(It's a little hard to tell you where to change chords
you'll have to figure out that yourself ;) )
Definition to Pattern A:
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D Em/D G/D A/D
Viktor was born in the spring of Ž44
D Em/D G/D A/D
And never saw his father anymore
D/C G/B D/A E/F#
A child of sacrifice, a child of war
D/F# Bm7 G A D
Another son who never had a father after Leningrad
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/b/billy_joel/leningrad_crd_ver_2.html ]
Follows Pattern A:
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Went off to school and learned to serve the state
Followed the rules and drank his vodka straight
The only way to live was drown the hate
A Russian life was very sad
And such was life in Leningrad
Definition of Pattern B:
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Dm
I was born in Ž49
Dm/A Am
A cold war kid in McCarthy time
C/G G
Stop Žem at the 38th Parallel
A
Blast those yellow reds to hell
Dm
And cold war kids were hard to kill
Dm/A Am
Under their desk in an air raid drill
C/G G
HavenŽt they heard we won the war
A
What do they keep on fighting for?
Follows Pattern A:
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Viktor was sent to some Red Army town
Served out his time, became a circus clown
The greatest happiness heŽd ever found
Was making Russian children glad
And children lived in Leningrad
Follows Pattern B:
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But children lived in Levittown
And hid in the shelters underground
Until the Soviets turned their ships around
And tore the Cuban missiles down
And in that bright October sun
We knew our childhood days were done
And I watched my friends go off to war
What do they keep on fighting for?
Follows Pattern A:
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And so my child and I came to this place
To meet him eye to eye and face to face
He made my daughter laugh, then we embraced
We never knew what friends we had
Until we came to Leningrad
Outro:
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D A/D D D A
Em B/E Em Em B
G G D D G G A/D A7 Bm G A A7 D
D A/D D D A
Em B/E Em Em B
G G D D G G A/D A7 Bm G A A7
End on:
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D ;)
