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Goodnight Irene by Leadbelly
Goodnight Irene
Here goes tune From low to high: B E A D F# B
---2--2----2--2----2----------3-3-----3---------3--3----3----------2-2--|
---3--3----3--3----3----------2-2-----2---------2--2----2----------3-3--|
---2--2----2--2----2----------2-2-----2---------2--2----2----------2-2--|
---------0-------------4-3-2--2-2-----2--0-1-2--2--2----2--------0------|
-0---------------0------------------0----------------0-----0-2-4--------|
------------------------------------------------------------------------|
--2---------2-2---2-----------1-1------------3-3----3----------2-2------|
--3---------3-3---3-----------0-0----0-------2-2----2----------3-3------|
--2---------2-2---2---------0-0-0----0-------2-2----2----------2-2------|
----------0----------0-2-4----0-0----0-------2-2--2-2--------0----------|
0---0-2-4-------0------------------2----2--0-----------0-2-4------------|
------------------------------------------------------------------------|
plays over and over, just the tempo picks up
Irene goodnight,Irene goodnight
Goodnight Irene, Goodnight Irene
I'll see you in my dreams
Last Saturday night, I got married
Me and my wife settled down
Now me and my wife are parted
I'm gonna take another stroll downtown
Stop rambling, stop your rambling
Stop staying out late at night
Go home to your wife and family
Stay there by your fireside bright
I love Irene God knows I do
Love her till the seas run dry
And if Irene turns her back on me
I'll take morphine and die
------------------
version 2
Chords used in this song :
D
e ---|-x-|---|---|---|
B ---|---|-x-|---|---|
G ---|-x-|---|---|---|
D ---|---|---|---|---|
A ---|---|---|---|---|
E ---|---|---|---|---| A7
e ---|---|---|---|---|
B ---|-x-|---|---|---|
G ---|---|---|---|---|
D ---|-x-|---|---|---|
A ---|---|---|---|---|
E ---|---|---|---|---| G
e ---|---|-x-|---|---|
B ---|---|---|---|---|
G ---|---|---|---|---|
D ---|---|---|---|---|
A ---|-x-|---|---|---|
E ---|---|-x-|---|---| A
e ---|---|---|---|---|
B ---|-x-|---|---|---|
G ---|-x-|---|---|---|
D ---|-x-|---|---|---|
A ---|---|---|---|---|
E ---|---|---|---|---|
[Verse]
D A7
Asked your mother for you
D
She told me that you was too young
G
I wish, dear Lord, that I’d never seen your face
D A D
I’m sorry you ever was born.
[Chorus]
D A7
Irene, Goodnight
D
Irene, Goodnight
G
Goodnight, Irene, Goodnight, Irene
D A D
I’ll get you in my dreams.
[Verse]
D A7
Sometimes I live in the country,
D
Sometimes I live in town.
G
Sometimes I haves a great notion
D A D
To jump into the river and drown.
[Chorus]
D A7
Stop ramblin’ and stop gamblin’
D
Quit staying out late at night
G
Go home to your wife and your family
D A D
Stay down by the fireside bright
[Chorus]
D A7
I loves Irene, God knows I do
D
Love her till the sea runs dry
G
If Irene turns her back on me
D A D
I’m gonna take morphine and die
NOTES:
-i wouldn't put too much effort into getting it to sound exactly like leadbelly for a
reasons: he's playing a 12 string and so has the octave-high drones on every string, he
likely playing a guitar tuned at least a full step down or possessive of poor quality
heads that slipped constantly with the travel he did, and the original recording was
on wax cylinder so the fidelity is considerably less than perfect which gives it that
rough acoustic blues edge but makes it a pain to mimic. plus blues tradition was more
on individual artists giving their own touches to a lot of communal traditional songs,
fool around with it and make a version you can really call your own.
-the first instance of the IV chord (here an A) in the verses is always a 7th, but the
instance is not. the recording was too old and grainy for me to be 100% certain of this,
the second instance is only held for a split second anyway so i doubt anyone will
if you like to play it faster you can probably get away with the old blues trick of
the A chord instead of actually playing it by just hitting [x022xx], [x02xxx] or any
simple voicing of A.
-for a nice, subtle variation you can substitute Gsus [320033] for the G wherever you
didn't experiment with how this sounds in other keys with other suspended chords because
supposed to be writing an essay for literature class and i'm really just tabbing this to
------------------
version 3
Goodnight Irene G/A
Intro: 1 2 3 1 2 D7 1 2 3 1 2 3 G 2 3 1 2 3
G D7 G
Irene good-night, Irene good-night
G G7 C D7 G
Goodnight Ir-ene, good-night Ir-ene I'll see you in my dreams
G D7 G
Last Saturday night I got married me and my wife settled down
G G7 C D7 G
Now me and my wife have part-ed gonna take another stroll down town
G D7 G
Irene good-night, Irene good-night
G G7 C D7 G
Goodnight Ir-ene, good-night Ir-ene I'll see you in my dreams
G D7 G
Sometimes I live in the country sometimes I live in the town
G G7 C D7 G
Sometimes I have a great not-ion to jump into the river and drown
G D7 G
Irene good-night, Irene good-night
G G7 C D7 G
Goodnight Ir-ene, good-night Ir-ene I'll see you in my dreams 2 3 1 2 3
E7 2 3 1 2 3 A 2 3 1 2
A E7 A
Quit your ramblin' and quit your gamblin', quit stayin' out late at night
A7 D E7 A
Stay home with your wife and fam-ily sit down by the fireside bright
A E7 A
Irene good-night, Irene good-night
A A7 D E7 A
Goodnight Ir-ene, good-night Ir-ene I'll see you in my dreams
A E7 A
I asked your mother for you, she told me that you were too young
A7 D E7 A
I wished to God I'd never seen your face, I'm sorry you ever were born
A E7 A
Irene good-night, Irene good-night
A A7 D E7 A
Goodnight Ir-ene, good-night Ir-ene I'll see you in my dreams
A E7 A
Irene good-night, Irene good-night
A A7 D E7 A
Goodnight Ir-ene, good-night Ir-ene I'll see you in my dreams
------------------
version 4
CHORUS
[A] Irene, Good-[E] night
Irene, Good-[A] night
Goodnight Irene,
Good-[D] night Irene,
I'll [E] see you in my [A] dreams.
[A] Last Saturday night I got [E] married
Me and my wife settled [A] down
Me and my wife have [D] parted
Gonna [E] take another stroll down [A] town.
REPEAT CHORUS
Sometimes I live in the country
Sometimes I live in town
Sometimes I take a fool notion
To jump in the river and drown.
REPEAT CHORUS
[A] Stop ramblin', stop [E] gamblin'
Stop stayin' out late at [A] night
Go home to your wife and [D] family
And [E] stay by the fireside [A] bright.
REPEAT CHORUS
------------------
version 5
A
A E E7
Irene, goodnight
E A
Irene, goodnight
Goodnight, Irene
D
Goodnight, Irene,
E E7 A
I get you in my dreams
A E E7
Sometimes I live in the country,
E E7 A
sometimes I live in town
D
Sometimes I take a great notion,
E E7 A
to jump into the river and drown
A E E7
Irene, goodnight
E A
Irene, goodnight
Goodnight, Irene
D
Goodnight, Irene,
E E7 A
I get you in my dreams
A E E7
Stop rambling, stop your gambling,
E E7 A
stop staying out late at night
D
Go home to your wife and your family,
E E7 A
sit down by the fireside bright
A E E7
Irene, goodnight
E A
Irene, goodnight
Goodnight, Irene
D
Goodnight, Irene,
E E7 A
I get you in my dreams
A E E7
Last Saturday night, I got married,
E E7 A
me and my wife settled down
D
Now me and my wife are parted,
E E7 A
I`m gonna take another stroll downtown
A E E7
Irene, goodnight
E A
Irene, goodnight
Goodnight, Irene
D
Goodnight, Irene,
E E7 A
I get you in my dreams
A E E7
I love Irene, God knows I do,
E E7 A
I`ll love her till the seas run dry
D
But if Irene should turn me down,
E E7 A
I`d take the morphine and die
A E E7
Irene, goodnight
E A
Irene, goodnight
Goodnight, Irene
D
Goodnight, Irene,
E E7 A
I get you in my dreams
------------------
version 6
Tuning: Eb Ab Db Gb Bb Eb
Tune guitar a half step down.
The strum pattern remains steady,
In the last line of each verse, the pattern is only "rest, down, down" per chord.
[Verse 1]
A E7
I asked your mother for you
E7 A
She told me that you was too young
A Dm
I wish to the good Lord that I'd never seen your face
A E7 A
I'm sorry that you ere were born
[Chorus]
A E7
Irene good night
E7 A
Irene good night
A
Good night Irene
Dm
Good night Irene
A E7 A
I'll get you in my dreams
[Verse 2]
A E7
Sometimes I live in the country
E7 A
Sometimes I live in town
A Dm
Sometimes I haves a great notion
A E7 A
Jumping in to the river and drown
[Chorus]
A E7
Irene good night
E7 A
Irene good night
A
Good night Irene
Dm
Good night Irene
A E7 A
I'll get you in my dreams
[Verse 3]
A E7
Stop ramblin', and stop gamblin'
E7 A
Quit staying out late at night
A Dm
Go home to your wife and family
A E7 A
Stay there by the fireside bright
[Chorus]
A E7
Irene good night
E7 A
Irene good night
A
Good night Irene
Dm
Good night Irene
A E7 A
I'll get you in my dreams
[Verse 4]
A E7
I love Irene God knows I do
E7 A
I love her til the sea runs dry
A Dm
If Irene turns her back on me
A E7 A
I'm gonna take morphine and die
----------------