Chords for Delbert McClinton 2011 Texas Heritage Songwriters' Association Hall of Fame Inductee
Tempo:
70.175 bpm
Chords used:
C
A
E
D
F
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
[G] [C] [G]
[Gm] Well, in West Texas, of course, you got [C] border radio.
And you'd hear Ernie's Tub, One Minute, and Muddy Waters next song.
And then they'd play six or seven [E] songs, and you could buy this collection.
So all that, and Cajunto music, San Antone.
There was a little black barbecue joint out on Stowe Foundry Road.
And I heard Honey Hush playing.
Then I really did lose my mind.
[C] And the next time was at the Midnight Movie.
Now this was a big deal back in [Am] the 50s, the Midnight Movie,
because nothing went past [E] 10 o'clock [Em] anywhere.
Midnight Movie of Rock Around the Clock.
[C] And it was packed.
And it starts off with that one, two, three, and everybody just went nuts.
The thrill of that was, I've never known [D] anything like it.
[B] Before I met Bruce, I'd already had a band.
Well, that was 62.
[Em] And I'd had a band, first band we had was called the Mellow Fellows in 1957.
[A] And we had [E] four guitar players.
None of us could play.
The drummer had a snare drum and a conga drum.
That was it.
He had a band that was working all the [C] time.
And he'd back up all the blues artists that would come to town.
Howlin' Wolf, you know, Jimmy [Fm] Reed, [Em] anybody in the blues that would come.
Well, Dilbert plays harmonica, and his band would back him up.
[E] Well, I didn't teach him anything.
He was already playing the harp.
But I'll tell you how it go.
Of course, when Hey Baby was the number one song in England,
he got booked over there six weeks.
And the promoter says, we've got to have the harmonica player.
So hence, I get to go.
This girl that had been following Bruce around, we were dead tired.
And we were just standing in the dressing room.
She said, you've got to come hear this band.
They're the hottest group in the North.
And they're just back from [F#] Europe.
It's The Beatles.
[Em] And they were amazing.
Everybody wanted to know if you knew Elvis.
[D] Finally, I said, hell yeah.
I used to loan him lunch money.
[Dm] You know?
And I'm still playing the harp.
[G] She's a living it up, and I'm trying to live [Dm] it down.
You know, I write at home.
I seldom ever write when I'm on the road.
I don't know why, but I never have.
You know, I'm in that [Am] mode.
But every day, I expose myself.
I get up in the morning.
I have a cup of coffee.
I either pick up a guitar or sit down at the piano
and give it an hour.
And sometimes it works.
Sometimes it doesn't.
The first time I met Debra, he was practicing somewhere right
off Westbury Street in Fort Worth at a, I guess
you could call it a rehearsal hall.
And the damn place barely had electricity.
And he was struggling.
But he was not giving up.
No way, no how.
And to hit, to us, and I'm talking [F] I'm 17 years old, 16,
17 years old, he was a legend.
There was blues.
There was country.
There was rock.
There was all these American music influences there
that came out of the South.
And he didn't see any problem with [G] marrying them up.
Don't want your money, honey.
Don't need your car.
Doing all right.
Doing all right [C] so far.
Giving it up for your [F] love.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love right now.
Right now.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love, honey.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your love [F] somehow.
[C]
I'm giving it up for your [F] love.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love now.
[G] They're completely different for me,
because [E] live performance is live [D] performance.
And [G] you get out of it what you put into it.
And there's no going back and fixing anything.
So that's very much just what it is.
You've got to [A] go out there and do the show.
And you've got to be good.
[D]
But [G] the best part about it is even a bad show,
[E] I've always couldn't wait to redeem myself.
[B]
[G#m] [F#m] Well, everything I learned about [E] music I learned in Texas.
And I'm from Texas.
When you're from somewhere, this is, [B] well,
there's no place like Texas.
But when you're from Texas, it's kind of like if you're
[F#m] If you don't know, I can't tell you.
And if you do know, I don't need to say it.
[C] The [A] nightlife [Dm] ain't [Em] a good life.
But it's my life.
Nightlife is my favorite, I think,
because the first time I ever heard it,
[Gm] it was exactly my life.
[F] [C] Exactly.
[A]
And it boiled down into whatever, two and a half minutes.
The way she left [D] her choke turned my [A] head [D] around.
[A]
Seemed like overnight, she just up and [E] put me down.
[A] Ain't gonna let it bother me today.
[D] I've been working and I'm too tired anyway.
[A] But it's alright, [D] cause it's midnight
[E] and I got two old [A] bottles of wine.
[D] I'm sixteen hundred miles from the [A] people I [E] know.
Oh man, the only advice I can give somebody is
don't leave your wallet in the dressing room,
that's all I gotta say.
[A] [D]
[Gm] Well, in West Texas, of course, you got [C] border radio.
And you'd hear Ernie's Tub, One Minute, and Muddy Waters next song.
And then they'd play six or seven [E] songs, and you could buy this collection.
So all that, and Cajunto music, San Antone.
There was a little black barbecue joint out on Stowe Foundry Road.
And I heard Honey Hush playing.
Then I really did lose my mind.
[C] And the next time was at the Midnight Movie.
Now this was a big deal back in [Am] the 50s, the Midnight Movie,
because nothing went past [E] 10 o'clock [Em] anywhere.
Midnight Movie of Rock Around the Clock.
[C] And it was packed.
And it starts off with that one, two, three, and everybody just went nuts.
The thrill of that was, I've never known [D] anything like it.
[B] Before I met Bruce, I'd already had a band.
Well, that was 62.
[Em] And I'd had a band, first band we had was called the Mellow Fellows in 1957.
[A] And we had [E] four guitar players.
None of us could play.
The drummer had a snare drum and a conga drum.
That was it.
He had a band that was working all the [C] time.
And he'd back up all the blues artists that would come to town.
Howlin' Wolf, you know, Jimmy [Fm] Reed, [Em] anybody in the blues that would come.
Well, Dilbert plays harmonica, and his band would back him up.
[E] Well, I didn't teach him anything.
He was already playing the harp.
But I'll tell you how it go.
Of course, when Hey Baby was the number one song in England,
he got booked over there six weeks.
And the promoter says, we've got to have the harmonica player.
So hence, I get to go.
This girl that had been following Bruce around, we were dead tired.
And we were just standing in the dressing room.
She said, you've got to come hear this band.
They're the hottest group in the North.
And they're just back from [F#] Europe.
It's The Beatles.
[Em] And they were amazing.
Everybody wanted to know if you knew Elvis.
[D] Finally, I said, hell yeah.
I used to loan him lunch money.
[Dm] You know?
And I'm still playing the harp.
[G] She's a living it up, and I'm trying to live [Dm] it down.
You know, I write at home.
I seldom ever write when I'm on the road.
I don't know why, but I never have.
You know, I'm in that [Am] mode.
But every day, I expose myself.
I get up in the morning.
I have a cup of coffee.
I either pick up a guitar or sit down at the piano
and give it an hour.
And sometimes it works.
Sometimes it doesn't.
The first time I met Debra, he was practicing somewhere right
off Westbury Street in Fort Worth at a, I guess
you could call it a rehearsal hall.
And the damn place barely had electricity.
And he was struggling.
But he was not giving up.
No way, no how.
And to hit, to us, and I'm talking [F] I'm 17 years old, 16,
17 years old, he was a legend.
There was blues.
There was country.
There was rock.
There was all these American music influences there
that came out of the South.
And he didn't see any problem with [G] marrying them up.
Don't want your money, honey.
Don't need your car.
Doing all right.
Doing all right [C] so far.
Giving it up for your [F] love.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love right now.
Right now.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love, honey.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your love [F] somehow.
[C]
I'm giving it up for your [F] love.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love now.
[G] They're completely different for me,
because [E] live performance is live [D] performance.
And [G] you get out of it what you put into it.
And there's no going back and fixing anything.
So that's very much just what it is.
You've got to [A] go out there and do the show.
And you've got to be good.
[D]
But [G] the best part about it is even a bad show,
[E] I've always couldn't wait to redeem myself.
[B]
[G#m] [F#m] Well, everything I learned about [E] music I learned in Texas.
And I'm from Texas.
When you're from somewhere, this is, [B] well,
there's no place like Texas.
But when you're from Texas, it's kind of like if you're
[F#m] If you don't know, I can't tell you.
And if you do know, I don't need to say it.
[C] The [A] nightlife [Dm] ain't [Em] a good life.
But it's my life.
Nightlife is my favorite, I think,
because the first time I ever heard it,
[Gm] it was exactly my life.
[F] [C] Exactly.
[A]
And it boiled down into whatever, two and a half minutes.
The way she left [D] her choke turned my [A] head [D] around.
[A]
Seemed like overnight, she just up and [E] put me down.
[A] Ain't gonna let it bother me today.
[D] I've been working and I'm too tired anyway.
[A] But it's alright, [D] cause it's midnight
[E] and I got two old [A] bottles of wine.
[D] I'm sixteen hundred miles from the [A] people I [E] know.
Oh man, the only advice I can give somebody is
don't leave your wallet in the dressing room,
that's all I gotta say.
[A] [D]
Key:
C
A
E
D
F
C
A
E
[G] _ _ _ [C] _ [G] _ _ _ _
_ _ [Gm] _ Well, in West Texas, of course, you got [C] border radio.
And you'd hear Ernie's Tub, One Minute, and Muddy Waters next song.
And then they'd play six or seven [E] songs, and you could buy this collection.
_ So all that, and Cajunto music, San Antone.
There was a little black barbecue joint out on Stowe Foundry Road.
_ And I heard Honey Hush playing.
Then I really did lose my mind.
[C] And the next time was at the Midnight Movie.
Now this was a big deal back in [Am] the 50s, the Midnight Movie,
because nothing went past [E] 10 o'clock [Em] anywhere.
Midnight Movie of Rock Around the Clock.
[C] And it was packed.
And it starts off with that one, two, three, and everybody just went nuts.
The thrill of that was, I've never known [D] anything like it.
_ _ [B] Before I met Bruce, I'd already had a band.
Well, that was 62.
[Em] And I'd had a band, first band we had was called the Mellow Fellows in 1957.
[A] And we had [E] four guitar players.
None of us could play.
The drummer had a snare drum and a conga drum.
That was it.
He had a band that was working all the [C] time.
And he'd back up all the blues artists that would come to town.
Howlin' Wolf, you know, Jimmy [Fm] Reed, [Em] anybody in the blues that would come.
Well, Dilbert plays harmonica, and his band would back him up.
_ [E] _ _ Well, I didn't teach him anything.
He was already playing the harp.
But I'll tell you how it go.
_ Of course, when Hey Baby was the number one song in England,
he got booked over there six weeks.
And the promoter says, we've got to have the harmonica player.
_ _ So hence, I get to go.
This girl that had been following Bruce around, we were dead tired.
And we were just standing in the dressing room.
She said, you've got to come hear this band.
They're the hottest group in the North.
And they're just back from [F#] Europe.
It's The Beatles.
[Em] And they were amazing.
Everybody wanted to know if you knew Elvis.
[D] Finally, I said, hell yeah.
I used to loan him lunch money.
[Dm] You know?
And I'm still playing the harp.
[G] She's a living it up, and I'm trying to live [Dm] it down.
You know, I write at home.
I seldom ever write when I'm on the road.
I don't know why, but I never have.
You know, I'm in that [Am] mode.
But every day, I expose myself.
I get up in the morning.
I have a cup of coffee.
I either pick up a guitar or sit down at the piano
and give it an hour.
And sometimes it works.
Sometimes it doesn't.
The first time I met Debra, he was practicing somewhere right
off Westbury Street in Fort Worth at a, I guess
you could call it a rehearsal hall.
And the damn place barely had electricity.
And he was struggling.
But he was not giving up.
No way, no how.
And to hit, to us, and I'm talking [F] I'm 17 years old, 16,
17 years old, he was a legend.
There was blues.
There was country.
There was rock.
There was all these American music influences there
that came out of the South.
_ _ And he didn't see any problem with [G] marrying them up.
Don't want your money, honey.
Don't need your car.
Doing all right.
Doing all right [C] so far.
Giving it up for your [F] love.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love right now.
Right now.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love, honey.
Everything.
_ [C] Giving it up for your love [F] somehow.
_ [C]
I'm giving it up for your [F] love.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love now.
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ They're completely different for me,
because [E] live performance is live [D] performance.
And [G] you get out of it what you put into it.
And there's no going back and fixing anything.
So that's very much just what it is.
You've got to [A] go out there and do the show.
And you've got to be good.
[D]
But _ [G] the best part about it is even a bad show,
[E] I've always couldn't wait to redeem myself.
_ _ _ [B] _ _
[G#m] _ [F#m] Well, everything I learned about [E] music I learned in Texas.
And I'm from Texas.
When you're from somewhere, this is, _ [B] well,
there's no place like Texas.
But when you're from Texas, it's kind of like if you're
[F#m] If you don't know, I can't tell you.
And if you do know, I don't need to say it.
[C] The [A] nightlife [Dm] ain't [Em] a good life.
But it's my life.
Nightlife is my favorite, I think,
because the first time I ever heard it,
[Gm] it was exactly my life.
[F] [C] Exactly.
_ [A]
And it boiled down into whatever, two and a half minutes. _ _
The way she left [D] her choke turned my [A] head [D] around.
[A] _ _
Seemed like overnight, she just up and [E] put me down. _
[A] Ain't gonna let it bother me today.
[D] I've been working and I'm too tired anyway.
[A] But it's alright, [D] cause it's midnight
[E] and I got two old [A] bottles of wine.
_ [D] I'm sixteen hundred miles from the [A] people I [E] know.
Oh man, the only advice I can give somebody is
don't leave your wallet in the dressing room,
that's all I gotta say. _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
_ _ [Gm] _ Well, in West Texas, of course, you got [C] border radio.
And you'd hear Ernie's Tub, One Minute, and Muddy Waters next song.
And then they'd play six or seven [E] songs, and you could buy this collection.
_ So all that, and Cajunto music, San Antone.
There was a little black barbecue joint out on Stowe Foundry Road.
_ And I heard Honey Hush playing.
Then I really did lose my mind.
[C] And the next time was at the Midnight Movie.
Now this was a big deal back in [Am] the 50s, the Midnight Movie,
because nothing went past [E] 10 o'clock [Em] anywhere.
Midnight Movie of Rock Around the Clock.
[C] And it was packed.
And it starts off with that one, two, three, and everybody just went nuts.
The thrill of that was, I've never known [D] anything like it.
_ _ [B] Before I met Bruce, I'd already had a band.
Well, that was 62.
[Em] And I'd had a band, first band we had was called the Mellow Fellows in 1957.
[A] And we had [E] four guitar players.
None of us could play.
The drummer had a snare drum and a conga drum.
That was it.
He had a band that was working all the [C] time.
And he'd back up all the blues artists that would come to town.
Howlin' Wolf, you know, Jimmy [Fm] Reed, [Em] anybody in the blues that would come.
Well, Dilbert plays harmonica, and his band would back him up.
_ [E] _ _ Well, I didn't teach him anything.
He was already playing the harp.
But I'll tell you how it go.
_ Of course, when Hey Baby was the number one song in England,
he got booked over there six weeks.
And the promoter says, we've got to have the harmonica player.
_ _ So hence, I get to go.
This girl that had been following Bruce around, we were dead tired.
And we were just standing in the dressing room.
She said, you've got to come hear this band.
They're the hottest group in the North.
And they're just back from [F#] Europe.
It's The Beatles.
[Em] And they were amazing.
Everybody wanted to know if you knew Elvis.
[D] Finally, I said, hell yeah.
I used to loan him lunch money.
[Dm] You know?
And I'm still playing the harp.
[G] She's a living it up, and I'm trying to live [Dm] it down.
You know, I write at home.
I seldom ever write when I'm on the road.
I don't know why, but I never have.
You know, I'm in that [Am] mode.
But every day, I expose myself.
I get up in the morning.
I have a cup of coffee.
I either pick up a guitar or sit down at the piano
and give it an hour.
And sometimes it works.
Sometimes it doesn't.
The first time I met Debra, he was practicing somewhere right
off Westbury Street in Fort Worth at a, I guess
you could call it a rehearsal hall.
And the damn place barely had electricity.
And he was struggling.
But he was not giving up.
No way, no how.
And to hit, to us, and I'm talking [F] I'm 17 years old, 16,
17 years old, he was a legend.
There was blues.
There was country.
There was rock.
There was all these American music influences there
that came out of the South.
_ _ And he didn't see any problem with [G] marrying them up.
Don't want your money, honey.
Don't need your car.
Doing all right.
Doing all right [C] so far.
Giving it up for your [F] love.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love right now.
Right now.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love, honey.
Everything.
_ [C] Giving it up for your love [F] somehow.
_ [C]
I'm giving it up for your [F] love.
Everything.
[C] Giving it up for your [F] love now.
[G] _ _ _ _ _ _ They're completely different for me,
because [E] live performance is live [D] performance.
And [G] you get out of it what you put into it.
And there's no going back and fixing anything.
So that's very much just what it is.
You've got to [A] go out there and do the show.
And you've got to be good.
[D]
But _ [G] the best part about it is even a bad show,
[E] I've always couldn't wait to redeem myself.
_ _ _ [B] _ _
[G#m] _ [F#m] Well, everything I learned about [E] music I learned in Texas.
And I'm from Texas.
When you're from somewhere, this is, _ [B] well,
there's no place like Texas.
But when you're from Texas, it's kind of like if you're
[F#m] If you don't know, I can't tell you.
And if you do know, I don't need to say it.
[C] The [A] nightlife [Dm] ain't [Em] a good life.
But it's my life.
Nightlife is my favorite, I think,
because the first time I ever heard it,
[Gm] it was exactly my life.
[F] [C] Exactly.
_ [A]
And it boiled down into whatever, two and a half minutes. _ _
The way she left [D] her choke turned my [A] head [D] around.
[A] _ _
Seemed like overnight, she just up and [E] put me down. _
[A] Ain't gonna let it bother me today.
[D] I've been working and I'm too tired anyway.
[A] But it's alright, [D] cause it's midnight
[E] and I got two old [A] bottles of wine.
_ [D] I'm sixteen hundred miles from the [A] people I [E] know.
Oh man, the only advice I can give somebody is
don't leave your wallet in the dressing room,
that's all I gotta say. _ _
_ _ [A] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _