Language Or The Kiss Guitar Tab

Swamp Ophelia Tabs:

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Language or the Kiss -- Emily Sailers
-------------------------------------
[drop C/D tuning, no capo]
[Firstly, the high e string needs to be tuned down to c.(should be the same when
you put your finger on the first frett of the B string, so use that to tune)
Then tune the low E string to D.]

Into: [x2]

c|----------4--------------------------------0---------------0--------
b|--------1---------3-------1------------1-----1---------1-----1------
g|------0---------0-------0---0---0----0---0-----0-----0---0-----0----
d|----2---------2-------2-------2-------------------------------------
a|---3---------3-------3----------------------------------------------
d|-----------------------------------3--------------3-----------------

c|--------------------------------------------------0-----------------
b|------3---1---3---3/5--3--1---------------------0---0---------------
g|----0---0---0---0-----------------------------0-------0-------------
d|---------------------------------0h2-0------0-----------0-----------
a|---------------------------------------0----------------------------
d|--2---------------------------3----------5--------------------------

Verse:
 ...if it was real       or in a dream 
c|----------4--------------------------------0---------------0--------
b|--------1---------3-------1------------1-----1---------1-----1------
g|------0---------0-------0---0---0----0---0-----0-----0---0-----0----
d|----2---------2-------2-------2-------------------------------------
a|--3---------3-------3-----------------------------------------------
d|-----------------------------------3--------------3-----------------

 ...waking up im not sure where i've been
c|--------------------------------------------------0-----------------
b|------3---1---3---3/5--3--1---------------------0---0---------------
g|----0---0---0---0-----------------------------0-------0-------------
d|---------------------------------0h2-0------0-----------0-----------
a|---------------------------------------0----------------------------
d|--2---------------------------3----------5--------------------------

i don’t know if it was real or in a dream      
lately waking up i’m not sure where i’ve been 
there was a table set for six and five were there 
i stood outside and kept my eyes upon that empty chair

and there was steam on the windows from the kitchen
laughter like a language i once spoke with ease 
but i’m made mute by the virtue of decision 
i choose most of your life goes on without me 

D9	         F6(9)      Gsus
oh the fear i’ve known 
C		                 A7
that i might reap the praise of strangers 
D9               Gsus
and end up on my own 
D9                  F6(9)
all i’ve sown was a song 
Gsus
but maybe i was wrong 

i said to you the one gift which i’d adore
unwrap a package of the next 10 years unfolding 
but you told me if i had my way i’d be bored 
right then i knew i loved you best born of your scolding 

when we last talked we were lying on our backs 
looking up at the sky through the ceiling 
i used to lie like that alone out on the driveway 
trying to read the greek upon the stars the alphabet of feeling 

oh i knew back then 
it was a calling that said if joy then pain 
the sound of the voice these years later 
is still the same 

Instrumental Solo:
c|------------------------------------------------------------------
b|-----13-----------------------------------------------------------
g|--12----12--9--9--10/12--12/14--5--5/7--7-------------------------
d|------------------------------------------------------------------
a|------------------------------------------------------------------
d|------------------------------------------------------------------ 

c|------------------------------------------------------------------
b|--------5-6-5- 6/8-6p5-4p5-3p1-0h1-0--------3---------------------
g|---5h7------------------------------------------------------------
d|--------------------------------------5-4-3-----------------------
a|------------------------------------------------------------------ 
d|------------------------------------------------------------------

c|------6-7h8p7p6--------14----14-----12-11-9-9-7-------------------
b|--5h6-----------10h11-----10----8h9-------------------------------
g|------------------------------------------------------------------
d|------------------------------------------------------------------
a|------------------------------------------------------------------
d|------------------------------------------------------------------

c|------------------------------------------------------------------
b|------------------------------------------------------------------
g|--10p9h10p9--7/5--10p9h10p9-8h9-10p9-8h9-7/5-4h5-4----------------
d|----------------------------------------------------5/7-5---------
a|------------------------------------------------------------------ 
d|------------------------------------------------------------------

c|------------------------------------------------------------------
b|-----------------8--7-8-10-10--12h13-10/12------------------------
g|------5-7-5--7/9----7-9-11-11--------------12--12/14--10-----5----
d|--5h7----------------------------------------------------5h7------
a|------------------------------------------------------------------ 
d|------------------------------------------------------------------

i am alone in a hotel room tonight 
i squeeze the sky out but there’s not a star appears 
begin my studies with this paper and this pencil 
and i’m working through the grammar of my fears 

mercy what i won’t give 
to have the things that mean the most
not to mean the things i miss 
unforgiving the choice still is 
the language or the kiss 

Chords Used:
------------
D9:     x00232
Gsus:   5x0030
F6(9):  3x0010
C:      x32010
C#sus9: x02020

*Note*
 - p means pull off
 - h means hammer on
 - / means slide
 - the hammer on and pull off technique is kind of like rocking your 
   finger back and forth. Just hammer on and pull off. (10p9h10p9)


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Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture Link Floyd Wanna Be	#1 by Link Floyd at Jun 22, 1975 at 6:24 PM EST
	This song is about someone who is missing from a gathering (there was a table set for six, and five were there). The singer is standing in the kitchen contemplating and also listening to her guests in the other room (laughter like a language I once spoke with ease). The singer has accepted that their lover has a separate life but is afraid that they might end up alone if they let themselves go away from the relationship. They wrote a song for their lover, a love song, but now they are not so sure. (All I've sown was a song but maybe I was wrong).

No Picture Duncan Musical Genius	#2 by Duncan Jones at Sep 9, 1975 at 1:26 PM EST
	This song is about a person choosing to follow her dream but giving up being with the person she loves (in this case, it's a musician choosing the life of music/touring/fame over her chance for love, but the song could be interpreted more generally about giving up love to follow a dream). The first verse describes the moment she made her decision: she was supposed to meet her love at a restaurant, but she stood outside and looked at the empty chair and chose not to go inside: "I choose most of your life goes on without me." she feels torn by this difficult decision and fears that she might "reap the praise of strangers and end up on [her] own." in other words, she will receive the glory of being a musician/singer, but what if she ends up alone in the end? "all I've sown was a song, maybe I was wrong." the tension between these two choices and whether she made the right decision is what drives the beauty and tender sadness of the lyrics. The second verse is about how she wishes for certainty in her life and wants to know how things will unfold, but that is the one thing she cannot have. This verse is also her memories of the person she left behind to follow her dream. She recalls being with the person and talking. She also recalls being alone and how she can figure things out better that way: "I used to lie like that alone out on the driveway. I was trying to read the greek upon the stars, the alphabet of feeling." she felt a calling in that moment to be a musician/songwriter and to follow her dream. This calling said, "if joy, then pain." she realizes it probably will not be possible to stay with her lover and have access to the reservoirs of feeling and language she has when she is alone. Years later, she feels the exact same calling: "the sound of the voice these years later is still the same." Fittingly, the final verse begins with "I am alone." she is alone in a hotel room. She is trying to write a song. She is "working through the grammar of her fears." writing songs is her "study." she writes songs best and has a bigger reservoir of feeling and language when she is alone. But this is what hurts the most: "mercy, what I won't give to have the things that mean the most not to mean the things I miss." she loves her former life and especially the love she left behind, but she realizes she can write about these things best from afar. Her choice remains the same after all these years: the language or the kiss. She chose the language, which symbolizes her role as a musician/songwriter and her ability to bring depth of emotion and clarity of thought and feeling to her fans and listeners. She left behind the kiss, which symbolizes what she could have had in a lover, intimacy and closeness with a partner but she would have had to give up the language. She remains torn about the decision, but she can never go back and she will always have to live with that decision. 1

No Picture sebastian Average	#3 by sebastian daalmeijer at May 9, 1984 at 3:42 AM EST
	I think Emily is lamenting about her life as an existentialist. The first verse is about the life she could be living, something of an orthodox life where right and wrong were set in stone and there wasn't a need to wonder. This is a life laid out to her by her father, a minister and in my mind the second person (the 'you') in the song. But she cannot live like he wants her to, so she leaves the comfort of certainty into a life of introspection. The second verse starts with a warning from what she is leaving behind, but she admits she cannot avoid her thoughts and her questions even if she wants to, she must 'read the greek...'. The third verse cinches the song, where she confides how afraid she is that she won't succeed and her life will be fruitless. That's what makes the last few lines so meaningful, she knows she is risking everything and might have made a stupid decision to leave the happy little family at the table. 'To have the things that mean the most...' she wishes she could somehow hedge her bets, or find some sort of safety net because she knows what she has to lose. Unforgiving ... my favorite word of the song (just listen to how she says it) so perfectly describes how final her decision is and drives home how much of a risk she is taking by being who she must. What can I say ... I'm glad she made the decision she did because she never would have written all her wonderful music as a mindless drone. I don't see anywhere in the song about her homosexuality but I none the less like what Colum1225 had to say. I'm pretty sure it isn't a love song, but I could be way off. Either way, its one of Emily Sailiers' best.

No Picture Draven Average	#4 by Draven Gothe at Jul 2, 1990 at 3:45 AM EST
	This song is mind-blowing, emotionally and technically. I think it has to do with coming out, but I could be wrong. At any rate, it's about choosing between family and all of it's baggage (good and bad) and making your own way in life. The "language" represents the familial bond while "the kiss" is choosing the passion of life, and the two seem to be mutually exclusive. Each choice has its rewards and consequences: "It was a calling that said if joy, then pain". I love all the imagery about language, especially "trying to read the Greek upon the stars, the alphabet of feeling". And then the last verse, when she has chosen "the kiss", she is trying to create a new language of her own. God, Emily Saliers is a brilliant writer.

No Picture Dylan Average	#5 by Dylan at Aug 11, 1990 at 3:48 AM EST
	An absolutely touching song that has so much pain and suffering in it. "Oh Mercy, what i won't give to have the things that mean the most not to mean the things I miss." If people could just focus on what they have as opposed to what they have lost or no longer have, then happiness would be everywhere. I love this song, and the way Emily and Amy's voices work together to make you feel the longing and desire is absolutely perfect.

No Picture caleb Wanna Be	#6 by caleb at Apr 6, 1999 at 10:34 PM EST
	This is a beautiful, beautiful song, and I can't believe no one has commented on it. Swamp Ophelia is a great cd.

No Picture Atticus Average	#7 by Atticus Crowley at Jul 4, 2006 at 8:11 AM EST
	This song is about someone who is missing from a gathering (there was a table set for six, and five were there). The singer is standing in the kitchen contemplating and also listening to her guests in the other room (laughter like a language I once spoke with ease). The singer has accepted that their lover has a separate life but is afraid that they might end up alone if they let themselves go away from the relationship. They wrote a song for their lover, a love song, but now they are not so sure. (All I've sown was a song but maybe I was wrong).

No Picture John Wanna Be	#8 by John McCarthy at Mar 27, 2007 at 12:08 AM EST
	I just wanted to comment on the lyric "Laughter like a language I once spoke with ease" It's so true about so many different areas of your life...isn't it true it was eaiser to laugh when you were young, or at the beginning of new things? (meeting someone for the first time, for example) It makes me happy and sad at the same time, thinking that once we lose our ignorance we are less able to laugh freely. Anyhoo, something that definiteyl made me think. And that's just one line!