Ballad In Plain D Cifras

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                  Ballad in Plain D – Bob Dylan
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Written by: Bob Dylan
From: “Another Side of Bob Dylan” (1964)
 
Tabbed by: maguri
Tuning: Standard
 
Not easy to transcribe: Dylan is still working out the chord structure as
he's going along (notice the many irregularities here and there).
C or C/G: I guess he plays 3-3-2-0-1(0) for all the C-chords; the difference
is due to which string he picks as the root note (A-string: C, E-string: C/G).
 
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Capo: 2nd fret
Play: C
Key: D (not so "plain", after all ...)
 
Time signature: 3/4
Tempo: 125 bpm
 
CHORDS
     E-A-D-G-B-e
C    x-3-2-0-1-x
C/G  3(3)2-0-1-x
G    3-x-0-0-0-x
G6   3-x-2-0-0-x
G7   3-x-3-0-0-x
Bb   x-x-0-3-3-x or x-x-3-3-3-x (for example in Verse 6)
 
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[Verse 1]
     2/4
| G | G7 | C            Am        C/G         | C | C/G | C | C/G |
      I    once loved a girl, her skin it was bronze
         C/G            Am            Bb            | F | % |
With the innocence of a lamb, she was gentle like a fawn
  C/G         Am          C/G       | C | C/G |
I courted her proudly but now she is gone
C           G6           G7 | C/G | % | C | G |
Gone as the season she’s ta-  ken
 
 
[Verse 2]
G7   C/G            Am       C/G       | C | C/G |
In a young summer’s youth, I stole her away
         C/G        Am             Bb             | F | % | % |
From her mother and sister, though close did they stay
     C/G         Am                 C/G             | C | C/G |
Each one of them suffering from the failures of their day
     C/G                   G             G7  | C | C/G | C | G | G6 | G7 |
With strings of guilt they tried hard to guide us
 
 
[Verse 3]
| G7 |  C          Am       C/G         | C | C/G | C/G |
O - o - of the two sisters, I loved the young
     Am                   C/G            G7   | F | % |
With sensitive instincts, she was the creative  one
    C/G      Am                     C/G    | C | C/G |
The constant sc(r?)apegoat, she was easily undone
       C/G         G       G7   | C/G | % | G |
By the jealousy of others around  her
 
 
[Verse 4]
| G | G7 |  C/G      Am        C/G      | C | % |
  For   her parasite sister, I had no respect
C/G          Am           G7         | F | % |
Bound by her boredom, her pride to protect
C/G       Am             C/G          (F)| C | C/G |
Countless visions of the other she’d reflect
     C              G                G7 | C/G | % | % | G | G6 |
As a crutch for her scenes and her socie- ty
 
 
[Verse 5]
 2/4
| G7 | C              Am       C/G        | C | C/G |
  My-  self, for what I did, I cannot be excused
    C/G           Am                  C/G     | F | % | % |
The changes I was going through can’t even be used
        C/G         Am          C/G         | C | C/G |
For the lies that I told her in hopes not to lose
    C/G            G           G7   | C/G | % | C | G |
The could-be dream-lover of my life- time
 
 
[Verse 5]
| G7 |  C     Am             C/G  F           | C | C/G |
  With unseen consciousness, I possessed in my grip
  C/G         Am                      Bb            | F  | % |
A magnificent mantelpiece, though its heart being chipped
                             (bum note:x-0-3-3-3-x)
C/G      Am           C/G     | C | C/G |
Noticing not that I’d already slipped
     C/G           G7          | C | C/G | C | G |
To a sin of love’s false securi- ty
 
 
[Verse 6]
| G7 |  C           Am       F           | C | C/G |
  From  silhouetted anger to manufactured peace
C/G        Am         Bb         | F  | % |
Answers of emptiness, voice vacancies
         C/G           Am          C/G               | C/G | C/G |
Till the tombstones of damage read no questions but, “Please
       C/G               G7            | C | C/G | G | % | G7 | % |
What’s wrong and what’s exactly the mat-ter?”
 
 
[Verse 7]
    C/G       Am             C/G               | C | C/G |
And so it did happen like it could have been foreseen
    C/G        Am         Bb        | F  | % |
The timeless explosion of fantasy’s dream
       C/G         Am         C/G         | C/G | % |
At the peak of the night, the king and the queen
C/G         G7           | C | C/G | % | G | G6 | G7 |
Tumbled all down into pie-ces
 
 
[Verse 8]
| G7 | C/G    Am           F         | C | C/G |
  “The tragic figure!” her sister did shout
 C/G        Am        Bb            | F  | % |
“Leave her alone, God damn you, get out!”
    C/G     Am     C/G     | C | C/G |
And I in my armor, turning about
    C/G                G7               | C/G | % | G | G6 | G7 |
And nailing her in the ruins of her pettiness
 
 
[Verse 9]
| G7 | C/G          Am            C/G        | C | C/G |
   Be- neath a bare lightbulb the plaster did pound
    C/G        Am     Bb               | F  | % |
Her sister and I in a screaming battleground
    C/G      Am         C/G       | C | % |
And she in between, the victim of sound
     C/G            G            G7 | C | C/G | % | G | G6 | G7 |
Soon shattered as a child to the sha- dows
 
 
[Verse 10]
| G7 |   C/G          Am      Am           | C/G | % |
  All is gone, all is gone, admit it, take flight
  C/G       Am                   Bb          | F  | % |
I gagged in contradiction, tears blinding my sight
   C/G         Am             C/G     | C/G | % |
My mind it was mangled, I ran into the night
        C/G           G       G7  | C/G | % | G | G6 | G7 |
Leaving all of love’s ashes behind  me
 
 
[Verse 11]
| G7 | C/G            Am          F         | C | C/G |
  The  wind knocks my window, the room it is wet
    C/G              Am       Bb           | F  | % |
The words to say I’m sorry, I haven’t found yet
  C/G          Am                F        | C | C/G |
I think of her often and hope whoever she’s met
        C/G    G7                     | C/G | % | G | % |
Will be fully aware of how precious she is
 
 
[Solo]
| C/G | Am | F | C/G | % |
| C/G | Am | Bb | F | % |
| C/G | Am | G7 | F | C/G | % |
| C/G | G7 | % | C/G | G | % |
 
 
[Verse 12]
 2/4
| G7 |   C                Am           C/G     | C | % |
  Ah, my friends from the prison, they ask unto me
     C         Am           F         | F  | F/C |
“How good, how good does it feel to be free?”
      C/G    Am          C/G    | C | % |
And I answer them most mysteriously         2/4
     C/G                 G            | G7 | % | C | C/G |
“Are birds free from the chains of the sky-      way?”
 
 
[Coda]
| Am | C/G | F | % | C/G | % | G7 | C/G
                  (timing is fuzzy in the last few bars)
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