The Decemberists – The Rakes Song (Guitar Live)

Key
-
Versions (3)

Auto-scroll

Chords

Proper chord voicings:
       G      Em7      Am     C/G
e|-----3-------3-------0-------0-------|
B|-----3-------3-------1-------1-------|
G|-----0-------x-------2-------0-------|
D|-----0-------2-------2-------2-------|
A|-----2-------2-------0-------3-------|
E|-----3-------0---------------3-------|
[Intro] G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 [Verse 1]
G Em7         G    Em7        G
I had entered into a marriage

   Em7           G               Em7
In the summer of my twenty-first year

G   Em7          G     Em7         G
And the bells rang for our wedding

   Em7        G           Em7
Only now do I remember it clear
[Chorus]
   Am      C/G            
Alright, alright, alright
G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 [Verse 2]
G       Em7        G       Em7
No more a rake and no more a bachelor

G  Em7           G             Em7
I was wedded and it whetted my thirst

G     Em7            G           Em7      G
Until her womb start spilling out babies

   Em7          G         Em7
Only then did I reckon my curse
[Chorus]
   Am      C/G            
Alright, alright, alright
G Em7 G Em7
   Am      C/G
Alright, alright, alright
G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 [Verse 3]
G          Em7         G              Em7
First came Isaiah with his crinkled little fingers

G    Em7                G                  Em7
Then came Charlotte and that wretched girl Dawn

G    Em7     G       Em7
Ugly Myfanwy died on delivery

G      Em7            G        Em7
Mercifully taking her mother a-long
[Chorus]
   Am      C/G            
Alright, alright, alright
G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 [Verse 4]
G        Em7         G      Em7
What can one do when one is a widower

G       Em7             G            Em7
Shamefully saddled with three little pests

G        Em7          G              Em7
All that I wanted was the freedom of a new life

G  Em7         G         Em7
So my burden I began to divest
[Chorus]
   Am      C/G            
Alright, alright, alright
G Em7 G Em7
   Am      C/G
Alright, alright, alright
G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 [Break] (Strum calmly for this part) G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 [Verse 5]
G         Em7        G              Em7
Charlotte I buried after feeding her foxglove

G    Em7           G                  Em7
Dawn was easy, she was drowned in the bath

G   Em7           G          Em7
Isaiah fought but was easily bested

G      Em7          G            Em7
Burned his body for incurring my wrath
[Chorus]
   Am      C/G            
Alright, alright, alright
G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 G Em7
    G          Em7         G         Em7
And that's how I came your humble narrator

G  Em7          G        Em7
To be living so easy and free

  G         Em7            G        Em7
Expect that you think that I should be haunted

G   Em7          G          Em7
But it never really bothers me
[Chorus]
   Am      C/G            
Alright, alright, alright
G Em7 G Em7
   Am      C/G
Alright, alright, alright
[Outro] G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 G Em7 (End on Em7)