Chords for Turning back the clock with Mike Oldfield

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_ _ _ [Em] _ _ [E] _ _ _
[B] _ It wasn't like any other music that was playing at that [Em] time.
_ [C] _ It was very much the birth of Virgin.
_ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
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[Am] I was [Em] sort of a session man at the time with an artist called Arthur Louis [Am] who just happened
to be rehearsing at the Manor.
And I gave copies of my demo tapes to two of the engineers there, Tom Newman and Simon Hayworth.
He came and poked his nose right here and said, listen to [F#] this. _ _
And I listened [Am] to it for maybe a day or two later.
He kept pestering me.
And it was just absolutely beautiful.
And Richard listened to it and he loved it.
But there was no [G] infrastructure of record label yet.
And then when I [Am] left, you know, they liked the demos.
They promised to [G] get back to me.
_ _ [Am] So I waited and I waited and I waited and waited.
And then a year later, after going around to all the other record companies [Am] and being
_ rejected, finally got a call from Simon Draper, which was [G] Richard's partner, _ to come and have
dinner with them on [C] Richard's Barge.
I remember hearing the tape and [Am] just thinking it was hauntingly gorgeous.
And we just thought, well, you know, maybe [D] we should try to _
[Am] start a record company literally
just to put [G] out Tubular Bells.
[Am] The Manor was a beautiful old manor house, which, you know, we managed to get for, [D] I
don't know, £20,000.
And people could live [Am] there.
They could record all night, which most people wanted to record all [C] night.
Mike would _ _ [F] record in between other artists coming to the manor.
[Em] Because he was living there, he had quite a lot of time to record.
_ _ [E] Out of this _ introverted [Am] young lad came this beautiful, beautiful music. _ _
[Em] The Tubular Bells was an accident because [Am] when I finally got to the manor, they were
wheeling a set out from the musician who was there before me.
And as they were going past, I suddenly thought, _ _ hey, hey, I might be able to [C] use those.
Can you bring them back in?
So they went, oh, OK, and [F] then_
_ _ Making the record, once [Em] we decided to do it and Michael had focused, [E] _ was relatively [Dm] easy.
But [Am] this poor bugger had the worst job [B] in the world because he had to sell it.
It wasn't like any other music that was [Am] playing at that time.
You know, having to try to get out and promote it with Mike not wanting to do any interviews [Em] at all.
Well, I did [E] one.
One.
It was awful.
Melody [Am] maker?
Yeah, he asked me, why did you write [C] Tubular Bells?
I thought for about 20 [F] minutes.
He was getting really upset and, [Em] you know, kind of impatient.
Because I wanted [D] to give him an [Dm] honest answer.
_ [Am] And in the end, I just couldn't come up with it.
I [Em] don't know why.
[E] You know, it's like I didn't do it for a [Am] reason.
It just kind of [Em] happened.
_ [Am] And then after that, I think, that [Em] was horrible.
I'm not doing any more of these. _ _ _ _
We had [F] John Peel [B] to the boat.
We played in the whole album.
[Am] He was captivated by it.
[Em] Anything he played, everybody [Am] would say, all right, well, this is important.
We're going to listen to it.
[Em] When he _ _ played the entire album, he used his whole show.
I [A] remember I was sitting in the [Em] kitchen of the Manor, _ [Am] and just this little radio, and
I just [Em] couldn't believe it.
[C] No, it was a good, it was a wonderful [Em] moment. _
_ _ We went to saw Stevie Wynwood [Am] _ [Em] at his home in [Am] Oxford, and Nick [Em] Taylor.
And [F] they all agreed to come and [E] play at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
On [Am] the way there, Mike got a panic [Em] attack.
And [F] just said, I'm not [Em] going to go through with [Am] it.
You don't mind me telling a story?
I've told it before.
_ _ [F] _ _ _ [G] _
_ _ [Am] And so I thought, how do I get him over this panic attack?
[F] Because there was a lot resting on this [G] concert.
And in fact, it could have been _ [Dm] make or break for [F] Mike, make or break for Virgin.
It was pretty [G] important.
[Bm] Anyway, I've been given an authentic for my wedding.
_ [F#] And I just said to [F#] Mike, look, _ I know that you psychologically can't [D#] do the concert,
but, _ _ _ _ and I pulled [C#] out the key of the Bentley.
If you do do the concert, [F#] _
and I give you the key after the concert, do you think you could
overcome your psychological traumas at the moment?
_ [D#m] Anyway, he paused for a few moments.
And I thought, oh.
_ _ [C#] _ _ _
_ _ _ [F#] _ _ _ _
All right, then.
He overcame the psychological trauma. _
_ _ And thank God he did, because the concert was, you know, standing ovations.
_ I don't think I've ever heard a cheer of applause so loud as on that night.
And I couldn't understand it.
I felt that we'd done it so badly.
But to my astonishment, [F#m] they absolutely loved it. _
Then [E] this movie called The Exorcist came [A] out.
_ And the theme, it became the theme tune from The [F#] Exorcist.
And because of The Exorcist, it got propelled, you know, worldwide to, you know, the top
of the charts.
And it [B] stayed there for ages and ages. _ _
[F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [F#] _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ [B] _
I got this phone call from Danny Boyle.
And he asked if I would be [B] agreeable to coming and performing at the opening ceremony [F#] of
the London Olympic Games.
_ And I didn't even have to think about it.
I said yes.
_ [D#] Incredibly well-deserved.
And a [F#] magical, magical, magical day.
_ [A] _ _ _
_ _ [F] _ _ _ _ [C] _ [Gm] _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ [A] _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ _ _ _ [Em] _ _ _
[E] _ _ There's no question that us [Bm] meeting on the boat that night, _ _ you know, transformed both our [F] lives.
[F#] It was very much the [Em] birth of Virgin.
_ _ Beautiful. _ _ _
He doesn't lose it. _ _ _ _ _ _