Billy Bragg

Billy Bragg - Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards guitar tab

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Subject: b/bragg_billy/waiting_for_the_great_leap_forwards.tab

Date: 10 Jun 1997 20:08:55 +0100

From: "Boulton, Nic"

>From Workers' Playtime. Play these chord shapes with a capo at the 4th

fret to be in key (E) with the recording.

[intro]:

C C/B Am

e ----------------------------------------------------------------

B -------1-------------1--------------1--1----1---1--1------------

G -------0-------------0--------------2--0h2--0h2-2--0h2----------

D -------2-------------0--------------2--0h2--0h2-2--0h2----------

A ---3----------3-2----------2-0----------------------------------

E ----------------------------------------------------------------

[play twice]

[verse part1]:

C C/B Am G

e -----------d--u---------d--u-------d---u------------------------

B -----------1--1---------1--1-------1---1------------------------

G -----------0--0---------0--0-------2---2------------------------

D -------2---2--2-----0---0--0----2--2---2------------------------

A ---3-------------2-----------0-------------0--2--0--------------

E -----------------------------------------3----------------------

it may've bn cam-e--lot f Jk & Jk--a-lyn but on the

che gue-va-ra hi-way fillinup w gas--o-line

fi-del castsbrother s a rchlady w crying over

lux--rys dis-a-pointment shwover & hes trying*

[verse part2]:

F G C C/B Am G

e ------1---------------------------------------------------------

B ------1--1-------0--------1-----1-------1---------0------------

G ----2----2-------0--0-----0-----0-------2---------0-------------

D --3-----------------0-----2-----0-------2---------0-------------

A --------------2-----------3-----2-------0---------2-------------

E ------------3-------------------------------------3-------------

sympthze her but he thinks he shld warn her that the

F G

e ------1---------------------

B ------1---0---------0-------

G ----2------0--------0---0---

D --3--------0------------0---

A ------------0-----2------0-- [play intro riff twice]

E ---------------3------------

3rd wld is jstaround the corner

[outro]:

over the outro lines play [verse part 2]then [intro], for example:

[]

F G C C/B Am G

1 leap forwards 2 leaps back, will politics get me the sack

[][]

F G C C/B Am Am C C/B Am Am

waiting for the great leap forwards

Here's the full thing

1.

[play verse part1]

C C/B Am G

It may have been camelot for Jack and Jacqueline

or on the Che Guevara highway filling up with gasoline

Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying over

luxury's disappointment so he walks over and he's trying

[play verse part2]

F G C C/B Am

to sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her

G F G [play intro]

that the third world is just around the corner

C C/B Am Am C C/B Am Am

2.

[play verse part1]

C C/B Am G

in the Soviet Union, a scientist is blinded

by the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded*

[play verse part2]

F G C C/B Am G

that Doctor Robert Oppenheimer's optimism fell

F G [play intro]

at the first hurdle

C C/B Am Am C C/B Am Am

3.

C C/B Am G

In the cheese pavilion, the only noise I hear

is the sound of someone stacking chairs and mopping up spilled beer

F G C C/B Am

and someone asking questions and basking in the light

G F G [play intro]

of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer

C C/B Am Am C C/B Am Am

4.

C C/B Am G

Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is

I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses*

F G C C/B Am G

while looking down the corridor out to where the van is waiting

F G [play intro]

I'm looking for the great leap forwards

C C/B Am Am C C/B Am Am

5.

C C/B Am G

Jumble sales are organised and pamphlets have been posted

even after closing time, there's still parties to be hosted*

F G C C/B Am

you can be active with the activists or sleep in with the sleepers

G

while you're

F G [play intro]

waiting for the great leap forwards

C C/B Am Am C C/B Am Am

[outro]:

F G C C/B Am G

oh 1 leap forwards 2 leaps back, will politics get me the sack

F G C [intro] C/B Am Am

waiting for the great leap forwards

F C

well here comes the future and you cant run from it

C C/B Am G

if you've got a blacklist I wanna be on it

F G C [intro] C/B Am Am

waiting for the great leap forwards

F G

well its a mighty long way down rock and roll

C C/B Am G

from top of the pops to drawing the dole

F G C [intro] C/B Am Am

you're waiting for the great leap forwards

F G

if no-one out there understands

C C/B Am G

start your own revolution and cut out the middleman

F G C [intro] C/B Am Am

waiting for the great leap forwards

F G

in a perfect world we'd all sing in tune

C C/B Am G

but this is reality so give me some room

F G C [intro] C/B Am Am

waiting for the great leap forwards

F G

so join the struggle while you may

C C/B Am G

the revolution is just a T-shirt away

F G C [intro] C/B Am Am

waiting for the great leap forwards

alternate lyrics:

When playing this live Billy changes often changes the words, here's some

of the alternate lyrics he was doing 1993-6

verse one

Fidel Castro's Brother spies / Lee-Harvey Oswald's brother spies

so he walks over and he's trying/so he calls her on his carphone

that the 3rd world is just around the corner/3rd world war has already

started in Europe

verse 2

A scientist is blinded/ an economist is blinded

by the resumption of nuclear testing/ by the lure of the free market

system

Doctor Robert Oppenheimer's optimism fell/ Dr. Oppenheimer nearly

invented the atom bomb

at the first hurdle/ but isn't captalism interesting when you've only got

roubles to spend

verse 3

stacking chairs/stacking cheese

15 fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer/15 fame filled minutes of

the stage diver

verse4

embarrasment and my usual excuses/ my acupuncturist and some fruit juices

where the van is waiting/where my limo is waiting

great leap forwards/new world order

verse5

pamplets have been posted/all my friends were sacked

even after closing time there's still parties to be hosted/ even after

all this time you can still send me a fax

sleep in with the sleepers/ sleep in with the media

outro

blacklist, I'd like to be on it/ hitlist, I'd like to be on it/ mat down

there I'd like to be on it

start your own revolution and cut out the middleman/I think that

ramraiding has a special place in social change

/well I really always wanted to be quite famous, but I don't want to be

on your security cameras

the revolution is just a T-shirt away/ the revolution is just a Pele

T-shirt away

Plus these from Ron McBay's BB homepage:

verse 1

But he thinks that he should warn her That her husband Jim'll probably

have to do all 45 years of his sentence.

outro

You can be active with the activists or sleep in with Rob Lowe

Well it's all very good to say that you're sorry, but I really don't

believe you, Ollie

Salmon Rushdie proves that you have to be careful, for those who burn

books will later burn people

If you've got a blacklist I wanna be on it, it's better than a Grammy

with my name on it

Does anybody know any more ?

d is a downstroke

u is an upstroke (kind of a lazy, incidental one)

h is a hammer on

* at the end of the last line of [verse part 1], the walk up from the G

to the C *might* be replaced by a walk up from a C to an F, so it'd be

the same fingering as the other lines of the verse, but move the end bit

all up one string

chords

EADGBe

x32010 - C

x20010 - C/B

x02210 - Am

320003 - G

xx3211 - F

Have fun

Nic

Nic.Boulton@bn.cwplc.com

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