Brushfire Fairytales Tabs:
MIDDLE MAN
All music and lyrics written by and property of Jack Johnson
Transcribed by Jai Mitchell
jai_mitchell@yahoo.com
http://members.optushome.com.au/jaimitchell
After 5 shows of Jack in 7 days I manged to see a few errors in my tabs, one of them was in
one of the main chords for this song.. look at the chords in the intro and verse for the
difference... the Em, is not and Em until the chorus kind of bit, it is actually an Em9th or
Em7th or something.. as shown in the chord chart below... enjoy..
BASS INTRO
|--------------------------|
|.---------9---7~-7-7-----.|
|.-7~-7-7----7--------5-6-.|repeat until chorus
|--------------------------|
GUITAR CHORDS
Em* X 7 5 7 X X
Em X 7 9 9 8 7
A 5 7 7 6 5 5
C 8 10 10 9 8 8
D X 5 7 7 7 5
G 3 5 5 4 3 3
F# 2 4 4 3 2 2
F 1 3 3 2 1 1
em(1) 0 2 2 0 0 0
Guitar Intro
Em* A repeat
Em*
Well he's not necessarily trying to say that he minds it
A
But someone plays evil tricks on that kid
Em*
Well he's not necessarily trying to say god can't be trusted
A
But someone plays evil tricks on that kid
Em*
As certain situations scream for deviations
A
But somehow we always get stuck in the middle
Em*
Of this and that and then he should try less
A
Every time he's rejected then he loses affection
C
But don't we all, don't we just got to give a little time
A D Em D
Maybe give a friend a call instead of making him confused
A D Em D
What a terrible thing for you to do-ooo
A D Em D
What an awful thing for you to say-eee
A D A G F# F em(1)
What a terrible thing for you to relay
(bass intro and drums)
Em*
Well I know some people's they got a little less than nothing
A
Never still find some to spare
Em*
And other people got more than they could use
A
But they don't share
Em*
And some people got problems man
A
They got awful complications
Em*
Other people got perfect situations
A
With no provocation
C
But don't we all, don't we just got to give a little time
A D Em D
Maybe give a friend a call instead of making him confused
A D Em D
What a terrible thing for you to do-ooo
A D Em D
What an awful thing for you to say-eee
A D
What a terrible thing for you
Em D
Confused
A D Em D
What a terrible thing for you to do-ooo
A D Em D
What an awful thing for you to say-eee
A D A G F# F em(1)
What a terrible thing for you to relay
(bass intro and drums)
|------------------------------------------------------
|------------------------------------------------------
|.-----------------------------------------------------
|.---------------------------7-7p5-7p5---5-7-7p5-7p5---
|--7-7p5-7p5---5-7-7p5-7p5-------------7-------------7-
|------------7-------------7---------------------------
--------------------------------|
--------------------------------|
-------------------------------.|repeat x 4
---------------------------7-7-.|then
-7-7p5-7p5---5-7-7p5-7p5--------|
-----------7-------------7------|
------------------------
------------------------
------------------------
-5----------------------
---7-7--7-5-6-7/slide
------------------------
Somehow we always get stuck in the middle (repeated)
(overdubbed with)
Confused, what an awful thing for you to do
Confused, what an awful thing for you to say-ee
http://www.guitarmasta.net/j/johnson,_jack/.html
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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Dave Average |
#1 by Dave at Sep 27, 2007 at 6:26 PM EST |
| rofl. Dont you just love it? The words just roll out so smoothly.. and yet he has great enunciation and diction, and what he is saying can be made out. I like this song's message.. Sometimes we do get stuck in the middle.. or force others into that position. And you know what? it sucks. .. "Confused, what an awful thing for you to do." (I must confess. I didnt like this song the first time i heard it.. but it's grown on me.) | |
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storm Average |
#2 by storm at Sep 28, 2007 at 3:32 AM EST |
| OMG JACK JOHNSON IS SOOO TALENTED! | |
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Antti Wanna Be |
#3 by Antti Solonen at Sep 28, 2007 at 4:16 PM EST |
| i know this song has nothing to do with drugs,...but it always makes me think of middle man in drug deals... its funny..i cant kick that thought out of my head at all....i think coz its the thing that came into my had wen i heard the song for the first time 1 | |
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Celebrimbor Rhythm Player |
#4 by Celebrimbor Calaelen at Sep 29, 2007 at 5:59 AM EST |
| Does anyone know why there are two versions of this song that sound completely different? Same with some of his other songs like "Posters". This song is great too, I'm not sure if I like the slow or fast version more yet. | |
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matthew Rhythm Player |
#5 by matthew robinson at Sep 29, 2007 at 9:44 AM EST |
| well, this song to me is something i can really relate to. being the middle man, it's like being stuck between two friends where they don’t particularly like each other anymore but you're still friends with both of them. it's something where you don’t really mind being where you are but sometimes it's like there's something or someone playing tricks with you and you get confused and frustrated because you don't know whether the next day you're still going to be friends with both of them or if they're going to be friends and then turn their backs on you. so 'give a friend a call instead of making him confused', to me, is like just stop thinking about yourselves but think about the person who is being the middle man. and ‘of this and that and man he should try less because every time he's rejected man he loses affection’ is like he shouldn’t always be the middle man, shouldn’t always help people because then they’ll take advantage of him and he’ll be the one who will end up hurt, even though his intention was so that no one would get hurt. Well I know some people's they got a little less than nothing But still find some to spare And other people got more than they could use But they don't share And some people got problems man They got awful complications Other people got perfect situations With no provocation for ^that^ part of the song, it’s like other people didn’t bother with the problem the friends were having even though they could help, but the guy, the middle man did. and he’s a middle man even though he has problems of his own to deal with in the first place. so his two friends are too blind to see that… and they are the ones who should be helping him (by giving him a call!) instead of the other way around. Somehow we always get stuck in the middle Confused, what an awful thing for you to do Confused, what an awful thing for you to say well, yea, it’s an awful and terrible thing to be the middle man, but sometimes you just don’t plan these things. the middle man is usually at the right place at the right time. | |
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eric Rhythm Player |
#6 by eric christian at Oct 1, 2007 at 1:48 PM EST |
| dammmmnnnn this song is wonderful "Well I know some people's they got a little less than nothing But still find some to spare And other people got more than they could use But they don't share And some people got problems man They got awful complications Other people got perfect situations With no provocation " MAN, i love this part of the song, and the whole song, because it seems to talk about some kid that "But someone plays evil tricks on that kid Well he's not necessarily trying to say god can't be trusted But someone plays evil tricks on that kid And certain situations scream for deviations But somehow he always gets stuck in the middle " damm what beautiful words, these two parts explains the song, its great. -angela | |
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Tim Rhythm Player |
#7 by Tim Jessop at Oct 1, 2007 at 11:09 PM EST |
| mjschorn sums it up perfectly. this almost sounds like it belongs in a jazz club, but a jazz club by the beach. | |
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zach Wanna Be |
#8 by zach lilly at Oct 3, 2007 at 12:31 PM EST |
| this has gotta be my favorite j.j. song. simple yet powerful, and catchy. amazing | |
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brock Average |
#9 by brock someone at Oct 3, 2007 at 9:16 PM EST |
| I hear ya Nate. In my opinion, the more basic "double-bass" version where you hear the voices in the background make it much more jazzy feeling. Not to mention the flute has a great almost hip-hop feel. | |
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Average |
#10 by nirvana at Oct 5, 2007 at 2:41 AM EST |
| ahhhh whenever i try to sing along with this song. i always fall behind! he talks tooo fast!! | |
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