Jason Isbell – Dress Blues (Guitar Live)

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Versions (4)

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Chords

6/4 Time. [Intro] | G | Em7 | G | Em7 | [Verse 1]
G                          Em7
What can you see from your window?

G                         Em7
I can't see anything from mine

G                        Em7
Flags on the side of the highway

    Cadd9                      G     Dsus4 D
And scripture on groc'ry store signs

G                      Em7
Maybe eighteen was too early

      G                  Em7
Maybe thirty or forty is too

    G                           Em7
Did you get your chance to make peace with the man

         Cadd9                    G    Dsus4 D
'Fore he sent down his angels for you?
[Chorus]
    Em7       G/F#       G
And mamas and grandmamas love you

       Em7             G/F#        G  G/F#
'Cause that's all they know how to do-oo

    Em7                      Bm
But you never planned on the bombs in the sand

   Cadd9            Cm      G     Dsus4 D
Or sleepin' in your . dress blues
[Break] | G | Em7 | G | Em7 | [Verse 2]
     G                           Em7
Your wife said this all would be funny

     G                       Em7
When you came back home in a week

      G                            Em7
You'd turn twenty-two and we'd all celebrate you

     Cadd9                G     Dsus4 D
In a bar or a tent by the creek

     G                     Em7
Your baby would just about be here

     G                       Em7
Your very last tour would be up

    G                              Em7
But you won't be back, they're all dressin' in black

         Cadd9                  G   Dsus4 D
Drinkin' sweet tea in styrofoam cups
[Chorus 2]
    Em7       G/F#       G
And mamas and grandmamas love you

 Em7     G/F#         G    G/F#
American boys hate to lose

    Em7                      Bm
But you never planned on the bombs in the sand

   Cadd9            Cm      G     Dsus4 D
Or sleepin' in your . dress blues
[Bridge] | G | Em7 | G | Em7 | | G | Em7 | G | Em7 | G | Em7 | Cadd9 | G Dsus4 D | | G | Em7 | G | Em7 | G | Em7 | Cadd9 | G Dsus4 D | [Verse 3]
             G                     Em7
They got the high school gymnasium ready

             G                      Em7
It's full of flowers and old legionnaires

G                   Em7
Nobody showed up to protest

     Cadd9             G  Dsus4 D
Just sniffle and stare .

        G                            Em7
There's red, white, and blue in the rafters

            G                       Em7
And there's silent old men from the Corps

G                           Em7
What did they say when they shipped you away

         Cadd9                G   Dsus4 D
To fight somebody's Hollywood war?
[Chorus 3]
    Em7    G/F#          G
And nobody here could forget you

    Em7            G/F#      G    G/F#
You showed us what we had to lose

    Em7                      Bm
But you never planned on the bombs in the sand

   Cadd9            Cm      G     Dsus4 D
Or sleepin' in your . dress blues

    Em7                      Bm
No, you never planned on the bombs in the sand

   Cadd9            Cm      G
Or sleepin' in your . dress blues
Notes: a guitar tuned down 1/2 step. In the intro, he uses his index finger on the A and D strings to play the riff. Because he's playing a single bass note followed by strumming the top three strings, he plays the G chord as 3xx033 and the Em7 chord as x2x033. Throughout, he uses the chord voicings shown in the chords below.
[Intro Riff from video]
 | G             | Em7           |
e|---------------|------3--------|
B|---------------|------3--------|
G|---------------|---------------|
D|-------(h)2-0--|---------------|
A|---0-2---------|-2-------------|
E|-3-------------|---------------|
Chords Used: G = 320033 Em7 = 022033 Cadd9 = x32033 Dsus4 = xx0233 D = xx0232 G/F# = 2x0033 Bm = 224432 Cm = 335543