Your Dad Did

YOUR DAD DID - John Hiatt

-------------------------

|A |D/A | x4

Well the sun comes up and you stare your cup of coffee up

Right through the kitchen floor

And you feel like hell, so you might as well

Get out and sell your smart ass door-to-door

And the missus wears her robe slightly undone

As your daughter dumps her oatmeal on your son

And you keep it hid - just like your dad 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

And you're a chip off the old block

Why does it come as such a shock

That every road up which you walk

Your dad already 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)

---------------

---------------

---------------

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Finally, the wee bass fill after "Something's taking place" is:

+ + + + +

--14-13----|-11----------11----|

--------14-|-----11-14---------|

-----------|-----------------12|

-----------|-------------------|