The same chord progression plays throughout the entire song:
Bb - Am - Gm - F - D# - Dm - D# - F
e 1 0 3 1 6 5 6 8
B 3 1 3 1 8 6 8 10
G 3 2 3 2 8 7 8 10
D 3 2 5 3 8 7 8 10
A 1 0 5 3 6 5 6 8
E 3 1
And I finger pick it - if play the bass note of each bar chord and line it up with
the rhythm of the song's bass line it sounds pretty good.
Every time I see you in the world, you always step to my girl
Bb Am
Back back way back I used to front like Angkor Wat
Gm F
Mechanicsburg Anchorage and Dar es Salaam
D# Dm
While home in New York was champagne and disco
D# F
Tapes from L.A. slash San Francisco
Bb Am
But actually Oakland and Alameda
Gm F
Your girl was in Berkeley with her Communist reader
D# Dm
Mine was entombed within boombox and walkman
D# F
I was a hoarder but girl that was back then
Bb - Am - Gm - F
Bb Am Gm
The gloves are off, the wisdom teeth are out
F
What you on about?
D# Dm D# F
I feel it in my bones, I feel it in my bones
Bb Am Gm
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/v/vampire_weekend/step_crd_ver_6.html ]
I'm stronger now, I'm ready for the house
F
Such a modest mouse,
D# Dm D# F
I can't do it alone, I can't do it alone
Bb Am Gm F
Every time I see you in the world, you always step to my girl
D# - Dm - D# - F
Same rhythm and chords run through the rest of the song.
Ancestors told me that their girl was better
She's richer than Croesus, she's tougher than leather
I just ignored all the tales of a past life
Stale conversation deserves but a bread knife
And punks who would laugh when they saw us together
Well, they didn't know how to dress for the weather
I can still see them there huddled on Astor
Snow falling slow to the sound of the master
The gloves are off, the wisdom teeth are out
What you on about?
I feel it in my bones, I feel it in my bones
I'm stronger now, I'm ready for the house
Such a modest mouse,
I can't do it alone, I can't do it alone
Wisdom's a gift, but you'd trade it for youth
Age is an honor, it's still not the truth
We saw the stars when they hid from the world
You cursed the sun when it stepped to your girl
Maybe she's gone and I can't resurrect her
The truth is she doesn't need me to protect her
We know the true death, the true way of all flesh
Everyone's dying, but girl you're not old yet
The gloves are off, the wisdom teeth are out
What you on about?
I feel it in my bones, I feel it in my bones
I'm stronger now, I'm ready for the house
Such a modest mouse,
I can't do it alone, I can't do it alone
[x2]
Every time I see you in the world, you always step to my girl
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