SONG NAME - Sweet Adeline
Tabbed by: ToneDeaf2005
Basically, listen to the song to get the parts and timing right.
h = hammer-on
Tuning: Standard
INTRO Play 2x thru
G Bb Eb C D
e|-----------------------------------------------------------0-0----2-------|
B|-----0---0---0---0----3---3---3---3-----4---4---4----------1-1----3-------|
G|-----0---0---0---0----3---3---3---3-----3---3---3----------0-0----2--2----|
D|---5---4---2---0----3---2---0---------1---0----------------2-2--0---------|
A|--------------------------------3-------------3---1h3---3-----------------|
E|--------------------------------------------------------------------------|
VERSE (repeated 4x per verse, I think)
Bb/F Bb6/F Eb5 Eb D7 G G7
e|--------------------------------------------3---3----1--------------------|
B|--------------------------------------------0---0----0--------------------|
G|--3--3--0--0----3--3---0--0---5--3--7--7--- 0---0----0--------------------|
D|--3--3--3--3----1--1---1--1---0--0--0--0----0---0----3--------------------|
A|--------------------------------------------2---2----2--------------------|
E|--------------------------------------------3---3----3--------------------|
CHORUS
Eb Bb F Ab Db (3x)
Eb Bb F Ab B D (1x)
CODA
G5 Eb/G C/G G5 Eb/G C/G G5
2X0034 2x134x 3x2014
1 @ @
2 @
3 @ @@ @ @ @ @
4 @
Brought to you by the GuitarMasta
http://www.guitarmasta.net/e/elliott_smith/348793.html
http://www.guitarmasta.net/e/elliott_smith/.html
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
Chris Rhythm Player |
#1 by Chris Pray at Sep 26, 2007 at 6:31 AM EST |
| LoserNo1 you are no loser cause i think you hit the song meaning right on the head! The only thing I would add is that near the end I think he has a gun ("fully loaded...") and he is looking for a reason no to kill himself, any reason, and sometimes drugs numb the pain he feels. | |
|
No Picture
JJ Average |
#2 by JJ at Sep 26, 2007 at 8:42 PM EST |
| Yeah, this song is musically crazy, especially the chorus...Eb - Bb - F - Ab - Db - E.....doesn't even make logical sense, but it's wonderful. Also, I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but the song is musically symmetrical: 2 verses, chorus, then the length of about two verses. The song is 3:15 long...the chorus starts at 1:34. Most songs have climaxes about 2/3s through, but here Elliott makes a perfect apex of sound right in the middle of things. I love this guy. | |
Andrew Wanna Be |
#3 by Andrew Tedder at Sep 26, 2007 at 11:25 PM EST |
| its common knowledge that a lot of elliott's song refer to themes such as loneliness, alienation, depression etc. i thought it was interesting how the name 'adeline' is used, as i often mishear it as 'out of line' henceforth 'sweet out of line'. i wonder if this was intentional when the song was written | |
|
No Picture
Josh Average |
#4 by Josh Braun at Sep 28, 2007 at 1:27 AM EST |
| Good job pointing that out zipperhead, that sounds like too good to be coincidental | |
|
No Picture
jordan Average |
#5 by jordan mcm at Sep 28, 2007 at 1:45 AM EST |
| this song makes me happy. no matter what. I'm depressed, it cheers me up. it deals with sadness in a beautiful way that makes melancholiness not feel so bad. this song is among my favorites of all time -- Elliott Smith was the greatest musical genius of our time. | |
chris Professional |
#6 by chris vlasic at Sep 28, 2007 at 9:04 AM EST |
| "told me not to worry you are just a shooting star"...wait for it..wait for it...then kapow with the amazing chorus..every line is just pure elliot genius | |
butters Average |
#7 by butters at Sep 29, 2007 at 5:36 AM EST |
| I know that "Adeline" is a city in Ohio or something...::shrugs shoulders:: I dunno :P | |
|
No Picture
chris Average |
#8 by chris rowley at Oct 1, 2007 at 9:57 AM EST |
| I've always thought this song was about a break up. Maybe I'm looking at this too simply, but maybe you guys are looking at it too deep. "cut this picture into you and me" --- Cut a picture of us together into halves. "burn it backwards kill this history" --- The backwards confuses me, but burning it is what matters. forgetting your past love after a breakup. "make it over make it stay away" --- Rearrange the love in your mind to make the feelings that you miss him or her stay away. Or maybe the actions that caused the break up, make them into something you can understand, make yourself the good one if your actions led to it. "or hate'll say the ending that love started to stay" --- Love started to stay the ending -ward it off. Love followed through would have made it last longer than it was going to. Hate says the ending of the love through something like, "I hate you, it's over, blah blah blah..." "there's a kid a floor below me saying brother can you spare sunshine for a brother old man winter's in the air" --- I personally don't think this has anything to do with class. A kid just lives below him and is trying to make him smile. The kid's wise and poor and needs that small comfort from Smith to cheer both of them up. Establishing Smith as visably depressed. walked me up a story asking how you are ---walked him up to his apartment... told me not to worry you were just a shooting star --- Smith tells the kid she's gone and the kid again tries to cheer him up. Tells him that she was never gonna be able to stick around. Establishes the girl as bright and lovely and mysterious and transitory. sweet adeline sweet adeline my clementine sweet adeline ---The beautiful, gut wrenching, outpouring of emotion. You know it when you've been there and you only want to say the name of the one you love to call them back to you. "it's a picture perfect evening and i'm staring down the sun fully loaded deaf and dumb and done waiting for sedation to disconnect my head or any situation where i'm better off then dead" ---Can't even fill you in on this one unless you've been there and felt it. Just heartbroken loneliness with no hopes and nothing to look forward to but drugs to get the person off your mind. | |
black Rhythm Player |
#9 by black rose at Oct 1, 2007 at 12:03 PM EST |
| "there's a kid a floor below me saying brother can you spare sunshine for a brother old man winter's in the air " does it get anymore original? | |
andy Average |
#10 by andy bourgeois at Oct 1, 2007 at 2:03 PM EST |
| Does anybody know what this song means? Is the sunshine about drugs? Huh. | |
Ŧøn¥ Average |
#11 by Ŧøn¥ PiNeDa at Oct 2, 2007 at 2:57 AM EST |
| wow i cant describe how beautiful this song is... the last part of the song get me every time, hell the whole song does | |
claude Average |
#12 by claude barrett at Oct 2, 2007 at 1:11 PM EST |
| From: http://www.sweetadeline.net In an interview with a French reporter in 1998, he said: "I was born in Nebraska and I grew up in Texas. There was only country music. I liked some things though, mainly Hank Williams. On my mother's side, everyone was a musician but no one made a living out of it. Although they were very good technically. My grandfather was a Dixieland jazz drummer, my grandmother sang standards like "Moon River." (He has said that the title of the song Sweet Adeline was inspired by his recollections of his grandmother's singing in her glee club, the Sweet Adelines.) | |
Max Wanna Be |
#13 by Max Contreras at Oct 2, 2007 at 7:12 PM EST |
| this is one of my favorite elliott smith songs, too. it turns out that there is a song from the '30s called "sweet adeline" w/ similar subject matter that he must have been inspired by (much like "clementine") 'cause some of the piano in the original song sounds too similar to this one to be an accident. and if so, he must have had an amazing music collection. | |
PW Average |
#14 by PW at Oct 3, 2007 at 1:20 AM EST |
| Is it just me, or is there a connection between this song and the movie "Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind"? Consider ... (a) main character Clementine, (b) about erasing memories, (c) waiting for sedation to disconnect my head - Jim Carey takes the pills the night that Mark Ruffalo is to finish erasing his memory. Any thoughts? | |
|
No Picture
terry Rhythm Player |
#15 by terry terry watts at Oct 3, 2007 at 2:59 AM EST |
| Man this song exemplifies how great Elliott really was. I always loved this song but just reading the lyrics again on this site, it blew me away | |
Ryan Rhythm Player |
#16 by Ryan Ruegemer at Oct 3, 2007 at 10:44 PM EST |
| i was thinking clementine should have been in eternal sunshine at some point. charlie kaufman is another unbelievable writer. check out his movies... they'll blow you away. | |
Damien Wanna Be |
#17 by Damien Clark at Oct 4, 2007 at 1:48 AM EST |
| "waiting for sedation to disconnect my head" i love this line...drugs are an escape from how shit life can be and this describes their effect perfectly. Nishfets, i too thought that the "sunshine for a brother" was a reference to drugs and i think it fits well with the above line. | |
AfroMan Average |
#18 by AfroMan at Oct 4, 2007 at 5:08 AM EST |
| Oh, and I hate the people who say all his songs are about drugs AND the people who refuse to achknowledge that any of them are about drugs. Yes, Elliott Smith was on drugs (::shocked face::), but that doesn't demean his art in any way, nor should that fact be ignored. It shows that he was human and that he too felt overwhelmed at times and resorted to drastic measures. And that's all I got. Enjoy some of the best lyrics you will ever hear! | |
xKGx Average |
#19 by xKGx at Oct 4, 2007 at 11:20 PM EST |
| this song hit me really hard after a break up, first verse: I gave all the pictures of us back to her and told her to destroy them; second verse: the kid a floor below me was my best friend who was staying in my basement when he was kicked out of his house, and it happened to be winter at the time; chorus: sweet adeline refers to the girl that was supposed to be the one, and this girl was; third verse: me going out and getting drunk to forget about it all. pretty sure that it wasn't what it was actually about, but with so much creepy similarity that's what it's about for me 1 | |
James Average |
#20 by James Newsome at Oct 5, 2007 at 7:53 AM EST |
| I'm new here... don't be too harsh! I've listened to Elliott Smith for a few years now and am a big fan of his music. To me, I believe this song is about a few different things. The first verse or the first 4 lines in this song are about his problems at home. It's well known that he had many issues in his past and looking through these lyrics it is even more apparent to me. His division with his parents "Cut this picture into "you" and "me""... mmm yeah. And "kill this history". Then there's finally the "make it over make it stay away, or hate'll say the ending that love started to say"... that seems like a cry to make his childhood better or go away. The next part of the song seems to be about the struggle between the rich and poor. This could also be some type of parallel with his life. "A kid a floor below me". “Floors” is referring to economic class. The kid below is poor and the person above is rich. The kid just wants the rich to "spare some sunshine" because "old man winters in the air". Clearly talking about needing some money or assistance through the hard times. "you were just a shooting star"... Shooting stars are synonymous with wishes. In this case, he means he wishes to be rich or not in the gutter. It’s probably not referring to him but poor people in general. The last verse... I have no clue. Looks like some drug issues perhaps? | |
Daniel Average |
#21 by Daniel Rainbolt at Oct 5, 2007 at 8:59 AM EST |
| eternal sunshine, yes. amazing connection and i want to ask the writers about it. all his songs have small connections, such as clementine(that name again) making angels in the snow. very close connections if you ask me | |
cliff Average |
#22 by cliff burton at Oct 5, 2007 at 9:19 PM EST |
| im thinking probably not, they album came out before the movie did. Maybe the movie was about it, but i highly doubt that, great song nonetheless | |
|
No Picture
Cailan Average |
#23 by Cailan Shotkoski at Oct 6, 2007 at 10:17 PM EST |
| This song is about getting drunk to forget a girl The opening stanza, as everyone has alluded to, is filled with imagery of just that, cutting pictures in two, so that the narrator can throw away the half with her in it. The process of forgetting her. In the next verse, the narrator is asked by this kid for a drink, "old man winter's in the air" - what warms you up better than whiskey! The kid offers him the advice of "don't worry" - "she's just a shooting star!" or a love that passes through your life. Nothing permanent. The narrator begins singing in the chorus, lines from the old song "clementine", which if you remember the lyrics is about a man who's only love dies. Here, the narrator is weeping over his lost love. I suppose the narrator's lost love is in fact named "Adeline" which, of course is just a made up name, a play on words reference to his grandmother's singing group. In the last verse, the narrator is watching the sunset, (I've always imagined on top of a roof, though that's not inferred anywhere). While doing so he says that he is "fully loaded", or drunk. The line "waiting for sedation to disconnect my head" - this could mean he's waiting for drugs to kick in, as he has already claimed that he was drunk, or merely just waiting for sleep, which I'd naively prefer. When I read the last lines I am haunted, "Any situation where I am better off than dead." This line, more than any other, makes me think that the narrator was crushed so bad emotionally that he wanted to commit suicide, and is looking for any way to stop the pain. This is such a dour foreshadow to what his life would be like near the end. A soul that felt so much pain, the only remedy in his head was suicide. We all know, and mourn the tragic results of Elliot's life. | |
Top 7 Elliott Smith Guitar Tabs
Popular Guitar Tabs