Canola Fields Cifras

"Canola Fields"
by James McMurtry
tabbed by: Jim Ferraiolo (jmfguitartabs@gmail.com)
 
Capo 1
 
x32033  Cadd9
2x0233  Dsus4/F#
022033  Em7
 
These chords are derived from listening to the released single, backed up by watching James
play this on his Facebook livestreams whenever things weren't clear.  Sometimes I hear the
F# in the bass of the D chords on the album version, sometimes it's just D.  He definitely puts
an F# in the bass on the Facebook livestreams, so that's what I've done here.
Either is probably fine.
 
Figure 1:
 
e|-------3------3---|
B|-------3------3---|
G|-------0------0---|
D|-------2------2---|
A|-------2------3---|
E|-3--2--0--2-------|
 
The figure above is what is actually played at the tail end of the first half of each verse, when
the chord changes quickly move between G-Dsus4/F#-Em7/Dsus4/F#-Cadd9.  The chords shown are what is
implied harmonically.  It sounds okay to play these, but it is better to just hold the Cadd9 shape
and use your index finger to play the bass note movement as shown above.  This happens a lot in
this song - hold and ring certain chords, move your index finger to hit the bass notes or throw
in fills, as James does.
 
[Intro lick]
 
e|-------3-3----3----------|
B|-------3-3----3----------|
G|-------0-0----0----------|
D|--0h2------2-----2--0h2--|
A|-------------------------|
E|-------------------------|
 
[Verse 1]
 
            Cadd9                      G
I was thinking 'bout you, crossing Southern Alberta
        Cadd9           Dsus4/F#
Canola fields on a July day
                   Cadd9              G          Dsus4/F#
Are about the same chartreuse as that sixty-nine bug
            Em7        Dsus4/F#  Cadd9
You used to drive around San Jose
 
          Cadd9                   G
You never knew where my old white Lincoln might take you
Cadd9                Dsus4/F#
Party on wheels with suicide doors
          Cadd9                      G       Dsus4/F#
Bring the kids and the dogs and your grandma too
   Em7        Dsus4/F#      Cadd9
We always had room for more
 
[Verse 2]
         Cadd9                        G
Til that white-knuckle ride back from Santa Cruz
    Cadd9                 Dsus4/F#
Second-best surfer on the central coast
        Cadd9                  G           Dsus4/F#
Had you wrapped up all the way back to Los Gatos
    Em7        Dsus4/F#      Cadd9
And I could've cut his throat
       Cadd9                  G
And it wasn't like we were an item to start with
       Dsus4/F#    Em7
It had no basis in fact
        Cadd9                    G
But the whiskey could push me to sudden extremes
G                           Dsus4/F#
I don't want to think about that,
                      Cadd9    G
I don't want to think about that
 
[Chorus]
 
Cadd9   Em7      D
Take my hand Marie
Cadd9  G             Dsus4/F#  G   Cadd9
Take a death grip on some part of me
Cadd9        G        Dsus4/F#   Em7
Keep me from drifting far out to sea
           Em7  Dsus4/F#  Cadd9
Or I'll be lost out       there
 
[Bridge]
 
Cadd9 G Dsus4/F# Em7
Cadd9 G Dsus4/F#
 
[Verse 3]
       Cadd9                  G
We all filtered away with the days getting shorter
Cadd9                    Dsus4/F#
Seeking our place in the greater scheme
Cadd9                  G     Dsus4/F# Em7
Kids and careers and a vague sense of order
Dsus4/F#             Cadd9
Busting apart at the seams
Cadd9                              G
I heard you switched coasts, moved in with your sister
Cadd9                        Dsus4/F#
I doubt you'd have called it familial bliss
   Cadd9              G              Dsus4/F#
We met up in Brooklyn before it went hipster
    Em7          Dsus4/F#     Cadd9
You carried your keys in your fist
    Cadd9                 G
In a way back corner of a cross-town bus
        Dsus4/F#            Em7
We were hiding out under my hat
Cadd9           G
Cashing in on a thirty-year crush
G                      Dsus4/F#
You can't be young and do that
                       Cadd9   G
You can't be young and do that
 
[Chorus]
 
Cadd9   Em7      D
Take my hand Marie
Cadd9  G             Dsus4/F#  G   Cadd9
Take a death grip on some part of me
Cadd9        G        Dsus4/F#   Em7
Keep me from drifting far out to sea
           Em7  Dsus4/F#  Cadd9
Or I'll be lost out       there
           Em7  Dsus4/F#  Cadd9
Or I'll be lost out       there
 
[Solo]
 
Em7 Dsus4/F# G D Cadd9 D
Em7 Dsus4/F# G D Cadd9
Em7 Dsus4/F# G D Cadd9
D              D
 
[Verse 4]
      Cadd9                       G
I was thinking 'bout you crossing Southern Alberta
Cadd9            Dsus4/F#
Canola fields at harvest time
          Cadd9                 G       Dsus4/F#
Look like tumbleweeds all raked up into rows
Em7         Dsus4/F#     Cadd9
Brown rusty contour lines
            Cadd9                  G
And there's not much moving on the romance radar
             Cadd9               Dsus4/F#
Not that I'm craving it all that much
      Cadd9                    G         Dsus4/F#
But I still need to feel every once in a while
    Em7         Dsus4/F#    Cadd9
The warmth of a smile and a touch
Cadd9                 G
In a way back corner of a cross-town bus
        Dsus4/F#            Em7
We were hiding out under my hat
Cadd9           G
Cashing in on a thirty-year crush
G                         Dsus4/F#
You can't be young and do that
Dsus4/F#              Cadd9    G
You can't be young and do that
G                         Dsus4/F#
You can't be young and do that
Dsus4/F#              Cadd9    G
You can't be young and do that
 
[Chorus]
 
Cadd9   Em7      D
Take my hand Marie
Cadd9  G             Dsus4/F#  G   Cadd9
Take a death grip on some part of me
Cadd9        G        Dsus4/F#   Em7
Keep me from drifting far out to sea
           Em7  Dsus4/F#  Cadd9
Or I'll be lost out       there
           Em7  Dsus4/F#  Cadd9
Or I'll be lost out       there
        Em7  Dsus4/F#  Cadd9
I'll be lost out       there
X