MONKEY & BEAR – JOANNA NEWSOM
This one takes a bit of practise.
If the chords don’t sound quite right, have a listen to the individual notes that Joanna
The Cm section is technically correct, it’s just a little difficult to explain. Don’t
the Cm as a barre chord, play it like this : x310xx so that the Eb (or the ‘1’) moves up
an E when you play the C chord. That entire chord section is used to illustrate that
which is awkward to transcribe to guitar. It works though, just give it a bit of work.
CAPO 5
(Am G F
down in the green hay
A G D)
where monkey and bear usually lay
Am F Am
they woke from a stable-boy's cry
Am G F
he said; someone come quick!
A G D
the horses got loose, got grass-sick!
Am F Am
they'll founder! fain, they'll die
Cm C Cadd9 E Esus4 E
what is now known by the sorrel and the roan?
Esus4 E Esus4 Eadd9 E
E
by the chestnut, and the bay, and the gelding grey?
Am G D
it is: stay by the gate you are given
C G F
and remain in your place, for your season
Am G C
and had the overfed dead but listened
F G A
to that high-fence, horse-sense, wisdom...
Am G F D
"did you hear that, Bear?" said monkey
G D D/A
we'll get out of here, fair and square
Am F Am
they've left the gate open wide!
Am
so;
D
my bride
Am D
here is my hand, where is your paw?
Am D
try and understand my plan, Ursala
Am D
my heart is a furnace
Am D
full of love that's just, and earnest
Am D
now; you know that we must unlearn this
Am D
allegiance to a life of service
Am D
and no longer answer to that heartless
Am D
hay-monger, nor be his accomplice
Am D
(that charlatan, with artless hustling!)
Am D
but; Ursala, we've got to eat something
Am D
and earn our keep, while still within
Am D
the borders of the land that man has girded
Am D
(all double-bolted and tightfisted!)
Am D
until we reach the open country
Am D
a-steeped in milk and honey
Am D
will you keep your fancy clothes on, for me?
Am D
can you bear a little longer to wear that leash?
Am D
my love, I swear by the air I breathe:
Am C F Am
sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth
Am D
but for now, just dance, darling
Am E
c'mon, will you dance, my darling?
Am C
darling, there's a place for us
F D
can we go, before I turn to dust?
Am C F Am
oh my darling, there's a place for us
Am D
oh darling
Am E
c'mon will you dance, my darling?
Am C
oh, the hills are groaning with excess
F D
like a table ceaselessly being set
Am C F Am
oh my darling, we will get there yet
Am G F
they trooped past the guards,
A G D (F, G)
past the coops, and the fields, and the farmyards
Am F Am
all night, till finally:
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/j/joanna_newsom/monkey_bear_crd.html ]
Am G F
the space they gained grew
A G D (F, G)
much farther than the stone that bear threw
Am F Am
to mark where they'd stop for tea
Cm C Cadd9
but walk a little faster
E Esus4 E Esus4
and don't look backwards
E Esus4 E Eadd9 E
Eadd9
your feast is to the East, which lies a little past the
E
pasture
Am G F
when the blackbirds hear tea whistling, they rise and clap
C G F
and their applause caws the kettle black
Am G C
and we can't have none of that!
Am G D
move along, Bear; there, there; that�s that
Am G F
(though cast in plaster
A G D (F, G)
our Ursala's heart beat faster
Am F Am
than monkey's ever will)
Am D
but still;
Am D
they have got to pay the bills
Am D
hadn't they?
Am D
that is what the monkey'd say
Am D Am
so, with the courage of a clown, or a cur
D Am
or a kite, jerking tight at its tether
D Am
in her dun-brown gown of fur
D Am
and her jerkin of swan's down and leather
D Am
Bear would sway on her hind legs;
D Am
the organ would grind dregs of song, for the pleasure
D
of the children, who'd shriek
Am
throwing coins at her feet
D Am
then recoiling in terror
D
sing, dance, darling
Am E
c'mon, will you dance, my darling?
Am C
oh darling, there's a place for us
F D
can we go, before I turn to dust?
Am C F Am
oh my darling, there�s a place for us
Am D
oh darling
Am E
c'mon, will you dance, my darling?
Am C
you keep your eyes fixed on the highest hill
F D
where you'll ever-after eat your fill
Am C F D
oh my darling, dear, mine
Am
if you dance
C F Am
dance, darling, and i love you still
Am
deep in the night
shone a weak and miserly light
where the monkey shouldered his lamp
someone had told him
the bear had been wandering
a fair piece away from where they were camped
someone had told him
the bear'd been sneaking away
to the seaside caverns, to bathe
and the thought troubled the monkey
for he was afraid of spelunking down in those caves
also afraid what the village people would say
if they saw the bear in that state;
lolling and splashing obscenely
well, it seemed irrational, really; washing that face
washing that matted and flea-bit pelt
in some sea-spit-shine, old kelp dripping with brine
but monkey just laughed, and he muttered;
when she comes back, Ursala will be bursting with pride
'til I jump up!
saying: you've been rolling in muck!
saying: you smell of garbage and grime!
but far out
far out
by now
by now
far out, by now, Bear ploughed
'cause she would not drown:
first the outside-legs of the bear
up and fell down, in the water, like knobby garters
then the outside-arms of the bear
fell off, as easy as if sloughed from boiled tomatoes
low'red in a genteel curtsy
bear shed the mantle of her diluvian shoulders;
and, with a sigh, she allowed the burden of belly
to drop like an apronfull of boulders
if you could hold up her threadbare coat to the light
where it's worn translucent in places
you'd see spots where almost every night of the year
Bear had been mending suspending that baseness
now her coat drags through the water
bagging, with a life's-worth of hunger, limitless minnows
in the magnetic embrace
balletic and glacial of Bear's insatiable shadow
left there!
left there!
when Bear left Bear
left there!
left there!
when Bear stepped clear of Bear
Am, G, F, A, G, D (F,
Am, F, G
Am C F Am
(sooner or later, you'll bare your teeth...)
