Slack Key Guitar
Slack Key Guitar

Slack Key Guitar easy guitar chords by Allen Ginsberg

N/A•
Guitar
Tuning

E A D G B E

Capo

No capo

Capo

Transpose

0

Capo

  • G

  • F

  • D

  • Bb

  • F#

    2

  • B

    2

  • C

  • Ebm

    6

  • G

  • F

  • D

  • Bb

  • F#

    2

  • B

    2

  • C

  • Ebm

    6
    • Verse 1
    Now 
    a series of songs, 

    March 1972, 
    leaving 

    San 

    Francisco, 
    flying over 
    the 

    Pacific to 

    Hawaii 
    and 
    thence 
    to the 
    island of 

    Fiji. 

    Songs 
    written on that trip, 

    the 
    first 
    for slack key 
    guitar to 
    the tune of 

    Sweet 

    Leilani 

    after 
    visiting the 

    Bishop 

    Museum 
    in 

    Honolulu. 

    Sweet 

    O 
    'ahu, 
    got 
    petroleum, 
    super
    high
    ways, 

    glass 
    hotels, 
    old 

    Hawai 
    'is 
    buried 
    un
    der 

    steamboat 
    mu
    seums, 
    sugar hills, 

    bishop 
    es
    tates, 
    leases, 
    homesites, 
    to 
    the 

    Kaiser 
    industry. 

    An
    d 
    the 
    milit
    ary 
    high
    ways 

    closed 
    off 
    to 
    the 
    ocean 
    over

    Koli 

    Koli. 

    Sweet 

    O 
    'ahu, 
    got petroleum, 

    superhigh
    ways, 
    glass 
    ho
    tels. 

    Old 

    Hawaii's 
    buried 
    under 
    steamboat 
    museums, 

    sugar hill
    s, 
    bishop es
    tates, 
    leases, 
    homesites 

    To 
    the 

    Kaiser 
    in 
    the 
    stream 

    And 
    the 
    military 
    high
    ways 
    closed 
    off 

    To the 
    ocean 
    over 

    Koli 

    Koli 

    Sweet 

    O 
    'ahu, 
    got 
    petroleum, 

    superhigh
    ways, 
    glass 
    ho
    tels. 

    Old 

    Hawaii's 
    buried un
    der 

    Steamboat 

    Mu
    seum's 
    sugar 
    hills 

    Bishop 

    Es
    tates 
    leases home 
    sites 
    to the 

    Kaiser 
    in
    dustry 

    And 
    the 
    milit
    ary high
    ways 

    closed off 
    to 
    the ocean 
    over 

    Coley, 

    Coley. 

    Cir
    itoka 

    Beach 

    Croon, 
    quatrains, 
    mirror 
    image, 
    two poems, 

    four 
    quatrains each, 
    written sitting 

    on the beach, 
    no 
    particular 
    music in mind, 

    or 
    what 
    music was in mind disappeared, 
    so 

    now re 
    -improvised. 

    I 
    closed 
    my eyes 
    on 

    Fiji 
    sand
    s and what 
    did I think 
    of next? 

    You, 
    big -eared 
    listener, 

    and the 

    Prajnaparamita 
    texts, 

    I thought 
    of 

    Herman 

    Melville's 
    rhyme on 
    olden 

    Marquesa 
    shore, 

    And 
    dead 

    Jack 

    Kerouac's 
    choo -choo 
    time in 

    mod
    ern microphone 
    roar. 

    A 
    light 
    rose up 
    my body 
    and spine 

    as 
    children 
    ripples 
    fell 

    Smiling 
    head 
    that 
    consciousness 

    reached 
    all 
    my teachers 
    in 
    hell 

    Oh 
    music 
    that 
    washes 
    from shore 
    to 
    shore 

    Oh 
    rhyth
    m turned 
    centur
    ies old 

    Sing 
    through our 
    mouths 
    and 

    wake 
    the 
    great mind, 

    The 
    bard's 
    first 
    chant
    ing 
    fore
    told. 

    I 
    opened 
    my eyes 
    on 

    Fiji 
    sands, 

    What 
    does 
    the sunlight 
    reveal? 

    Coral 
    bones on 
    the tiny beach, 
    grass, 

    flies on my 
    hand, 
    wash and 
    kneel. 

    Crabs 
    in brown 
    val
    leys of 
    sand, 

    tree 
    elbows 
    leaned on 
    the sea. 

    Aus
    tralian children 
    yelling 
    at 
    wavelets, 

    a 
    rowboat in 
    shade 
    of the 
    tree. 

    Peaceful 
    chatter 
    of 
    baby waves, 
    white 
    caps 
    distant 
    reef roar, 

    birds 
    whistling 
    through 
    green 
    palm 
    arms, 
    jeep tires 
    speeding 
    the 
    shore. 

    Oh, 
    presence as 
    timid 
    as 
    a white 
    dog 

    that swims 
    on the 
    shallow 
    tide 

    Salute, 
    blue 
    ocean 
    in heaven, 

    through which 
    our 
    war 
    bombers 
    ride 

    Thank you. 

    Autoscroll20%

    More songs to play

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