Helplessness Blues Uke tab by Fleet Foxes

6 Chords used in the song: E, A, B, Aadd9, A6, Asus4

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Tablature / Chords (Full Song)

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Artist: 
Year:  2011
Difficulty: 
5.5
(Intermediate)
Key: unknownChords
Verse 1:
E E
I was raised up believing
A A
I was somehow unique
B B
Like a snowflake unique among snowflakes
A A E E
Unique in each way you can see

Verse 2:
E E
And now after some thinking
A A
I'd say I'd rather be
B B
A A functioning cog in some great machinery
A A E E
Serving something beyond me

Chorus:
E E A A
But I don't, I don't know what that will be
E E A A E E
I'll get back to you someday, soon you will see.

Verse 3:
E E
What's my name, what's my station?
A A
Oh, just tell me what I should do
B B
I don't need to be kind to the armies of the night
A A E E
That would do such injustice to you

Verse 4:
E E
Or bow down and be grateful
A A
And say, "Sure, take all that you see."
B B
To the men who move only in dimly-lit halls
A A E E
And determine my future for me

Chorus
E E A A
And I don't, I don't know who to believe
E E A A E E
I'll get back to you someday, soon you will see

Verse 6:
E E
If I know only one thing
A A
It's that everything that I see
B B
Of the world outside is so inconceivable
A A E E
Often I barely can speak
E E
Yeah, I'm tongue-tied and dizzy
A A
And I can't keep it to myself
B B
What good is it to sing helplessness blues?
A A E E
Why should I wait for anyone else?

Chorus:
E E A A
And I know, I know you will keep me on the shelf
E E A A E E
I'll come back to you someday, soon myself

Instrumental: E E

Choral Section:
E E A A
If I had an orchard
E E A A (Aadd9 Aadd9)
I'd work till I'm raw
A6 A6 E E
And if I had an orchard
A A Asus4 Asus4 A A
I'd work till I'm sore

E E A A
And you would wait tables
E E A A Asus4 Asus4 A A
And soon run the store

E E A A
Gold hair in the sunlight
E E A A (Aadd9 Aadd9)
My light in the dawn
A6 A6 E E
If I had an orchard
A A Asus4 Asus4 A A
I'd work till I'm sore
(repeat)

E E A A
Someday I'll be
E E A A
Like the man on the screen

Outro:
A-Asus4-A-E

Uke tab by , 05 Jul 2011

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hrvamo avatar
nice.
23 Jan 2017
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About this song: Helplessness Blues

According to the Helplessness Blues Songfacts, the song finds Robin Pecknold reflecting on how the self-centered individualism of his youth has influenced him as a white American adult. He explained to the UK newspaper The Independent: "I wanted that song to be a completely open opinion, with no kind of poetry, if you know what I mean. It's hard to articulate without it sounding really reductive, but I was born in the Eighties, a time of relative plenty in the United States, so I felt like the 'individual' thing was really emphasized when I was a kid...

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