Your Dad Did John Hiatt
YOUR DAD DID - John Hiatt
-------------------------
|A |D/A | x4
Well the [A]sun comes up and you stare your cup of [D/A]coffee up
Right through the kitchen [A]floor[D/A]
And you [A]feel like hell, so you might as well
Get [D/A]out and sell your smart ass [A]door-to-door[D/A]
And the [D]missus [D/C#]wears her [D/B]robe slight[D/A]ly un[A]done
As your [D]daughter [D/C#]dumps her [D/B]oatmeal [D/A]on your [A]son
And you keep it [E]hid - just like your dad [A]did
So you go to work just to watch some jerk
Pick up the perks you were in line to get
And the guy that hired you just got fired
Your job's expired - they just ain't told you yet
So you go and buy a brand new set of wheels
Just to show your family just how great you feel
Acting like a kid - just like your dad did
[F#m] And you're a [E]chip off [D]the old [A]block
[F#m] Why does it [E]come as [D]such a [A]shock
[F#m] That every [E]road up [D]which you [A]walk
Your [D]dad already [E]did?
Yeah you've seen the old man's ghost
Come back as green chip beef on toast
Now if you don't get your slice of the roast
You're gonna flip your lid - just like your dad did
Well the day was long, now supper's on
And the thrill is gone, but something's taking place
Yeah the food is cold and your wife feels old
But all hands folded as your two year old says grace
She says "Help the starving children to get well
But let my brother's hamster burn in hell"
You love your wife and kids - just like your dad did
Just like your dad did.
--------------
I had to stop myself from doing a full tab of this - I think Ry Cooder
would find me and rip my arms and legs off just for missing the point
if I did. Beyond the riff itself, this song is obviously completely
improvised - the electric basically follows the chords at various
places along the neck, sometimes scooping into the root note and
playing with the whammy bar - always good for a bit of childish fun.
Note that the electric is dropped-D tuned (low to high DADGBE) to
get in some low Ds. I just love the attitude of this song - notice
the way that between the verses the guitar will start playing the
riff late, like he'd forgotten, but doesn't really care much! I'm
really jarred off that I'm not old enough to play this song
convincingly.
Anyway, the riff goes something like
[+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+]
|---------|---------| |---------|---------| |---------|---------| |-7-6-4-2-|-0-------| |---------|---4-2-0-| |---------|---------|
In the introduction, this is built up each time by harmonising it -
listen to the album, cause I'm not going to tab it.
Mostly, the verses are built up by messing with these 2 (vaguely
Free's All Right Now-ish) chords: A-x02225, D/A-x04235.
Occasionally he fiddles about with chords way up the neck like:
A/C#-x x 11 9 10 9, D-x x 12 11 10 10.
The following is played at the end of each verse before '- just like
your dad did'- (remember that the guitar is dropped-D tuned)
[+] [+] [+] [+] [+]
|-----------------|-----------| |-----------------|-----------| |-----------------|-----------| |-----------------|-----------| |-----------2-4---|-----------| |---2-4-2/6-------|-2---------|
The riff after the 2nd verse is changed so it leads to the bridge like
this:
[+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+] [+]
|---------|---------|---------|---------|--- |---------|---------|---------|---------|--- |---------|---------|---------|---------|--- |---7-6-4-|-2-0-----|---7-6-4-|-2-------|--- |---------|-----4-2-|-0-------|---4-0---|--- |---------|---------|---------|-------2-|-4-
The acoustic guitar is standard tuned and plays mostly first position
chords: A-x02220, D-xx0232, E-022100, F#m-244222
On the live Budokan version, the acoustic guitar solo bit before the
third verse is just him messing about with these chords:
A-xx765x, E-xx645x, D-xx423x.
Note also that on the Budokan version, the acoustic sort of copies the
sitar riff after "Help the starving children to get well" with
---------4-5--- -3-2-3-5------- (loose timing) --------------- --------------- --------------- ---------------
Finally, the wee bass fill after "Something's taking place" is:
[+] [+] [+] [+] [+]
--14-13----|-11----------11----| --------14-|-----11-14---------| -----------|-----------------12| -----------|-------------------|
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