Purple Toupee Guitar Tab

Lincoln Tabs:

#-----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE------------------------------#
#  This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation    #
#  of the song. The owner of this website has not reviewed the contents of   #
#  this file. If you feel that the content of this file may be violating     #
#  copyright law, you may not use the information displayed here in any way. #
#----------------------------------------------------------------------------#

Artist: They Might Be Giants
Song: Purple Toupee 
Album: Lincoln

Intro:
A D E C# F#m B
( W/ Talk Box) E A B E


Verse 1:
G                     C          G
  I remember the year I went to camp
  C               G           A              D
heard about some lady named Selma and some blacks
 G                  -               C          G
somebody put their fingers in the president's ears
        C               G               D           G
and it wasn't too much later they came out with Johnson's Wax


Pre Chorus 1:
D    -          G          -
I remember the book repository
          D             -        G  -
where they crowned the king of Cuba
  G                -               C                      G
That's all I can think of but I'm sure there's something else
 C          G             D              E
way down inside me I can feel it coming back


Chorus:
   A      D          E      C#        F#m     B
Purple toupee will show the way when summer brings you down
E          A          B      E :|
(purple toupee when summer brings you down)
   A      D         E    C#       F#         B
purple toupee and gold lame will turn your brain around
E         A         E     C#
(purple toupee and gold lame)


Verse 2:
Chinese people were fighting in the park
we tried to help them fight no one appreciated that
Martin X was mad when they outlawed bell bottoms
ten years later they were sharing the same cell


Pre Chorus 2:
I shouted out "Free the Expo '67"
till they stepped on my hair and they told me I was fat
Now I'm very big I'm a big important man
and the only thing that's different is underneath my hat


Chorus:
Purple toupee will show the way when summer brings you down
(purple toupee when summer brings you down)
purple toupee and gold lame will turn your brain around
(purple toupee and gold lame)


Bridge Outro:
 F#m      B       E       C#
Purple toupee is here to stay
 F#m       B        E  D
after the hair has gone away
      A        -       B         -        E
the purple brigade is marching from the grave


(Same Chords for the La La Part)


Bb
We're on some kind of mission
F
we have an obligation
Eb
we have to wear toupees
G

Brought to you by the GUITARMASTA - http://www.guitarmasta.net

Source: http://www.guitarmasta.net/t/they_might_be_giants/318577.html

Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques


No Picture paddy Average	#1 by paddy coscoran at Apr 15, 1979 at 2:07 AM EST
	I think the lyrics in this song are ingenious. The speaker seems to be a Boomer who sold out in the eighties and isn't really clear on what his generation was all about. I love the befuddled understatements referring to life-shattering events ("Martin X was mad," "Chinese people were fighting," etc). My favorite is the Kennedy line: "Someone put their finger in the president's ear..." I get the mental picture of Oswald playing a child's game with a thumb and index finger: "bang, you're dead."

No Picture brandon Rhythm Player	#2 by brandon q at May 25, 1979 at 8:52 AM EST
	Additionally I think the purple toupee and gold lame referrence is to the selling out of the progressive 60 movements to modern consumerism and fashion obsession.

No Picture sebastian Wanna Be	#3 by sebastian Shamburg at May 31, 1981 at 12:51 AM EST
	It seems to have an undertone of uninformed activism.

No Picture kelson Average	#4 by kelson white at May 12, 1991 at 5:50 PM EST
	This is a song about a stupid guy who barely remembers any of the history of the 60's, despite the fact that he grew up in the decade. All sorts of famous events are sort of mushed together and remebered incorrectly. Like he refers to "Selma and some blacks" obviously a confused memory of the famed civil rights march in Selma, Alabama. Other things he mentions: Johnson's wax, which was a brand of glue, and not the ear wax of President Lyndon Johnson. The book depository, the place from where Oswald allegedly shot President Kennedy. There is no "King of Cuba" but there is President-for-life Castro, who came to power around the same time. Chinese people fighting in the park is probably a reference to the riots in the "People's Park" in California, which has a sort of Communist-sounding name. Martin X is obviously supposed to be Malcom X, a guy who was concerned with black power, not bell bottoms. And the Expo 67 was a horrible fair they had in Canada, not some sort of rebel group, like the Chicago Seven. I am not quite sure what purple toupee means, though...

No Picture Will Average	#5 by Will Yost at Mar 14, 1997 at 4:52 PM EST
	I think it is a statement about rivisionist history and how events that are very important and significant to one generation becomes just a bunch of disconnected facts to that generations children.

No Picture rockman Average	#6 by rockman the sequel at Oct 4, 2003 at 7:21 AM EST
	Good points, all. Other things, interesting: Chinese People Fighting in the Park is probably a reference to Vietnam, "we tried to help them out, no one appreciated that." I heard somewhere that it could also be a reference to Tai Chi -- the meditative stretching exercises, that kind of look like martial arts. Obviously, anyone trying to "help out" someone doing Tai Chi is going to upset them. The King of Cuba could be a reference to the theories that Castro put the hit out on Kennedy -- after Kennedy had tried to assassinate Castro a couple times. That action cemented Castro in his leadership roll - ie. crowned him the King (as opposed to President -- a president leaves office, whereas a king stays until he's dead). Could "the camp" in the first line be Boot Camp? A reference to the draft? I think the Purple Toupee and Gold Lame is a ref. to styles -- the whole "hippy" culture, be free, conform to our non-conformity. To support this, "we're on some kind of mission," almost sounds like the author has no idea why he's protesting or dressing up - its just "some kind of mission," but whatever the reason, he's obligated to do so. On second thought, I think maybe those last three lines sum up the song. Its about a former 60's protestor who is so burnt out, that he has no idea why he was even protesting at all -- and he can't even get the events right. But it was a mission...