Anaïs Mitchell – The Pursewarden Affair (Guitar)

Capo 5
Key
-
Versions (2)

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Chords

The previous chords for this song provide a basic outline, but this chart sets out to clarify the key and capo, capture a bit more nuance, and emend some errors in the lyrics. Percy Pursewarden is a character from Lawerence Durrell's famous tetralogy, The Alexandria Quartet. A darkly humorous writer working at the British Foreign Office in Alexandria, Pursewarden is known in the novels for his distaste of Anglo-Saxon life, iconoclasm, incestuous love affair with his sister Liza, and subsequent suicide. Much of Anaïs' early work draws inspiration from the events of these novels. Note: throughout the song, Anaïs hammers onto the C and G (the main hook). Thus:
E|--(0)----|           E|--(3)----|
B|--(1)----|           B|--(0)----|
G|---0-----|    and    G|--(0)----|
D|---0h2---|           D|---0-----|
A|---3-----|           A|---0h2---|
E|---------|           E|---3-----|
are meant everywhere C and G alone are written. Sometimes the Am is hammered onto similarly, indicated by an asterisk (Am*). For Dsus2(#5), play:
E|----0----|
B|----3----|
G|----3----|
D|----0----|        
A|---(0)---|      
E|---------|
Occasionally a Gsus2 (open A string) is strummed, but leaving this detail out will not make a noticeable difference. A final note: this song is heavy on the lower strings, light on the higher strings. Avoid playing the actual e string of the Dsus2, for example; it is really more of a D5. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________ [Intro] C G (x3) Am G [Verse 1]
C    G            Gsus2
Percy Pursewarden

C     G
Open up your door

          C            G              Gsus2
I haven't come to break your cadence

      Am      G         Gsus2
Or to mix your metaphor

         C          G
And if I swore I was no critic,

          C          G
would you let me come inside?-

          C            G
Where you write your famous lines,

        C        G            Gsus2
And you lay your secret plans

Am*      G      Gsus2       Dsus2
  For suicide by slight of hand.

                      C       G
And you let me down so kindly
[Hook]
Dsus2
   You don't love me,
Dsus2(#5) But you don't mind
C     G
   me
C G (x2) Am* G [Verse 2]
C       G
  Percy Pursewarden,

      C             G
After all your hard traveling

        C              G
Think a girl could lie down beside you

Am             G
  without your world unraveling?

C       G           Gsus2
  In a maudlin mess

              C              G
Yes, that's my clothing in a pile

           C      G
Just wanna stay a little while

           C       G
Just wanna see that crooked grin

Am*    G              Dsus2
  After the sedatives set in, hey,

              C        G
And then we're feeling fine
[Hook]
Dsus2
   You don't love me
Dsus2(#5) I don't mind C G (x3) Am G [Verse 3]
C       G            Gsus2
  Percy Pursewarden,

        C          G
I'll be gone before you wake

            C          G
Back to the gallery of failures

   Am*       G
to see what I can make of you.

C      G
   Pursewarden,

     C        G
Have mercy on my heart;

      C               G
Maybe I don't want to call it art

       C              G
Just because you nailed it to the wall-

 Am*              G          Dsus2
Maybe I'm a critic after all

                        C       G  Gsus2
And you don't have to remind me
[Hook]
Dsus2
   You don't love me,
Dsus2#5 But you don't mind
C     G
   me