vicgodardI have a lot of work to do. I’m throwing an end-of-the-semester / end-of-my-comps party for English dept. friends, and they’re due to arrive in t-minus eleven hours. I’m expecting ten, maybe twelve people. I have low expectations.

So: rather than clean and go food shopping, why not try to figure out the guitar chords for an obscure song by a band I’d up until 2009 never heard of?

"Empty Shell"

opening riff:
G-5-4-5---|-55-4-5-|-4-3-4---|-44-3-4-:|

Intro:
Em G Am G  (x2)

Verse (lyrics assuredly misheard):
Em                                      G9*
You been gettin' told there's no one there.
Em                                G
Did you ever see so many empty spaces?
Em                              G9
I came across you on a rustic bend.
Em                                  G
You used to be seen in important places.

G                      Am
Where do I go when the light grows near?
G                  Am
Down the road on a steer.
G                       Am
What will I do when the pen runs out?
C
I make a stop. The dogs they bark.
D
Away and away and away and away.

Chorus:
Am            G (with opening riff)
Empty Shell.
Am                                         G (with opening riff)
I put another log on the fires of hell for you.
Am            G
Empty Shell.
Am                                       G
I put another log on the fires to feel for you.

Verse:
The battle is done you've lost and won.
And now you look so pale and (w/m)eerie.
Counting the hills till sunset comes.
Lookin' at on to serve your name.
I see the slopes speaking God and moms
Then I wrote with him.
An open cyst, that tear in his eye
He found his soul, lost his heart.
Away and away and away and away.

Chorus

Am                                        G
I put another log on the fires for fuel for you.
Am                                         G
I put another log on the fires to feel for you.

Intro/Outro (x2)

* That weird G9 thing is really just a G chord with probably another guitar playing a B and then sliding down to an A for the bulk of the chord’s duration. You can hear it in the song. There may not even be a chord in the background.

And hell, the song is so good I’ll even post it here:
“Empty Shell” – Vic Godard and the Subway Sect (3:55) – mp3