One For The Road Tabs:
- All Day And All Of The Night (Live)
- 20th Century Man (Live) »
- Stop Your Sobbing (Live)
- You Really Got Me (Live)
- David Watts (Live)
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From: Harlan L Thompson
20TH CENTURY MAN- The Kinks
A A A(move A shape from down a fret back) A D D A E E
A (riff 2x) A D G D G D A (riff 2x)
A E
This is the age of machinery, a mechanical nightmare
A
A wonderful world of technology
D G D A (riff)
Napalm, hydrogen bomb, biological warfare
A E
This is the twentieth century, too much aggrevation
A
It's the age of insanity
D G D A (riff)
What has become of the green pleasant fields of Jeruselem?
A G G A G G
Ain't got no ambition, I'm just disillusioned
D (no chord) A(riff)
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want, don't wanna be here
A D G D G D A (riff)
A G G# A
My momma says she can't understand me
E
Can't see me motivation
A
Just give me some security
D G D A (riff)
I'm a paranoid schitzoid product of the 20th century
A G G# A
You keep all your smart modern writers
E
Give me William Shakesphere
A
You keep all your smart modern painters
D G D A (riff)
I'll take Rembrant, Titian, DeVinci and Gainsborough
A G G# A G
Girl, we gotta get out of here, we gotta find a solution
D (no chord) A(riff)
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want, don't wanna die here
A G G# A G
Well, we gotta get outta here, we've gotta find a solution
D (no chord) A
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't want, don't wanna be here
BRIDGE:
Em A5 Em G G/F# Em
I was born in a welfare state, ruled by bureaucracy
D Am C C/B A5
Controlled by civil servants and people dressed in grey
A5 Am A5 G G/F# Em
Got no privacy, got no liberty
D A5 C C/B A (riff)
Cos the twentieth century people took it all away from me
RIFF #2 FOUR TIMES
A (no chord) G D A
Don't wanna get myself shot down
(no chord) G D A
By some trigger happy policeman
(no chord) G D
Gotta keep a hold of my sanity
D F C G A
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna die here
RIFF #2 FOUR TIMES
(no chord) G D A
My mama says she can't understand me
(no chord) G D A
Can't see my motivation
(no chord) G D
Ain't got no security
D F C G A
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna die here
RIFF #2 (repeat ...)
I don't want twentieth century man, I don't want twentieth century man
I don't want twentieth century man, I don't want twentieth century man
A G D A
This is the twentieth century
G D A
Too much aggrevation
G D
This is the age of insanity
D F C G A
I'm a twentieth century man but I don't wanna be here
RIFF:
'A' chord
----------------------------|
-------------------3-3-3-2--|
-------------------2-2-2-2--| repeat
-------------------4-4-4-2--|
----0-5p0-5p0---0-----------|
--------------0-------------|
RIFF #2:
A G G/F# Em
------------------------------------|
----3-3-2---------0------0----------|
----2-2-2---------0------0----------|
----4-4-2---0---0------0------0-----|
--0-------0-------------------------|
--------------3------2------0-------|
NOTE: Pick notes on the bridge, strum all other times. The riffs are
approximate, to give the general idea. The bridge has been altered a bit
to make it sound better for guitar. This is the way the song goes in my
mind.
(from Muswell Hilbillies, 1971)
(sent by Harlan at harlat@hawaii.edu)
Brought to you by the GUITARMASTA - http://www.guitarmasta.net
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
|
No Picture
Anthony Average |
#1 by Anthony at Aug 18, 1988 at 5:21 PM EST |
| he accomplishes more lyrically in this ONE SONG than thom yorke has done in HIS ENTIRE CAREER | |
|
No Picture
Forrest Average |
#2 by Forrest at Mar 27, 1993 at 6:39 AM EST |
| mrpieeater pretty much spoke my mind. I also can't beleive more ppl don't comment on this song, it's addictive as hell. I also love the guitar in this song. It's unique sounding and is a good exmaple of how versatile their sound is. | |
|
No Picture
Lyssa CHAOS Average |
#3 by Lyssa CHAOS at Nov 23, 1994 at 9:03 AM EST |
| Makes me wonder what Ray thinks of the world now that the digital age is here. The internet, social networking, iPods, cell phones. And he thought the 70s were bad. Ray's generation were the first ones to have to deal with life as we know it now, in fact people's every day lives and culture were radically different before and after WW2 (to a degree I can not even fathom). Advertising, television, radio, popular music, interstate highways, affordable automobiles, the rise of the cities and fall of the country, even suburbs and housing developments. Wasn't happening before the Boomers came to be. How many times a day do you hear music? (all day long, right? how weird is that? imagine if you had to rely on [expensive] records and stereo systems. or before the '50s when hardly anyone listened to recorded music and had to hear it live) How many times a day do you see an advertisement? Travel more than 3 miles from your home? Purchase a product made by a corporation worth billions of dollars and is available everywhere? It must have driven some people crazy having to deal with all of these changes at once, the modernization of the western world. People used to have quiet, simple lives, until the last 50 years. Anyway that's what Ray is on about. If you like when he covers this theme in Kinks songs then definitely check out Grandaddy, especially the album Sophtware Slump, it picks up where this song leaves off and is completely awesome. | |
|
No Picture
Johan Average |
#4 by Johan Soderberg at Nov 19, 1997 at 7:01 AM EST |
| This song deserves to have a whole bunch of comments. Muswell Hillbillies is a pretty good album, but this first song is incredible. This is one of the best portrayals of modern day fatigue and weariness, the absurdity of war, the onslaught of technology and the loss of humanity and everyday emotion that I've heard. It's about how the hustle and bustle of this day and age swallows the individual. You lose your ambition, your privacy, your liberty. People are aggravated and disturbed by the loss of empathy and the rise of war and technology. The quainter times are lost and desperation sets in. That's what I get from these lyrics. A sense that time is swallowing up your soul and you're losing in the insanity of modern times. I'd very much like to cover this song. It's a powerful social comment on the flaws of modern living and the fragility of the human condition. It's about the abuse of power and resources to crush the individual. 'I was born in a welfare state Ruled by bureaucracy Controlled by civil servants And people dressed in gray' - This part is so wonderfully melodic and epic, and shot through and through with weariness. Sounds like he's given up on life, he's got nowhere to go in this society, but then at the end he's fighting back and screaming 'This is the twentieth century. But too much aggravation!!. There's life left in him, he'll fight back. This song is amazing. | |
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