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Waiting For The Great Leap Forwards

Billy Bragg

Text File

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE--------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the#
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research.#
#-----------------------------------------------------------------------------#

Date: 13 Mar 1998 15:35:51 Z
From: "Boulton, Nic" 
Subject: TAB:/b/Bragg_Billy/Waiting_for_the_Great_Leap_Forwards.tab


>From Workers' Playtime. Play these chord shapes with a capo at the 4th
fret to be in key (E) with the recording.

[intro]:
     C            C/B          Am
e ----------------------------------------------------------------|
B -------1-------------1--------------1--1----1---1--1------------|
G -------0-------------0--------------2--0h2--0h2-2--0h2----------|
D -------2-------------0--------------2--0h2--0h2-2--0h2----------|
A ---3----------3-2----------2-0----------------------------------|
E ----------------------------------------------------------------|
[play twice]


[verse part1]:
     C             C/B         Am          G
e -----------d--u---------d--u-------d---u-------------------------|
B -----------1--1---------1--1-------1---1-------------------------|
G -----------0--0---------0--0-------2---2-------------------------|
D -------2---2--2-----0---0--0----2--2---2-------------------------|
A ---3-------------2-----------0-------------0--2--0---------------|
E -----------------------------------------3-----------------------|
    it  may've bn cam-e--lot f Jk &  Jk--a-lyn---------------------|       but on the
   che  gue-va-ra hi-way fillinup w gas----------------------------|o-line
    fi-del   castsbrother s  a rchlady   w crying   over
   lux--rys dis-a-pointment shwover &   hes trying*


[verse part2]:
    F         G             C     C/B     Am       G
e ------1----------------------------------------------------------|
B ------1--1-------0--------1-----1-------1---------0--------------|
G ----2----2-------0--0-----0-----0-------2---------0--------------|
D --3-----------------0-----2-----0-------2---------0--------------|
A --------------2-----------3-----2-------0---------2--------------|
E ------------3-------------------------------------3--------------|
   sympthze  her  but he  thinks he shld warn her that the

    F            G
e ------1---------------------|
B ------1---0---------0-------|
G ----2------0--------0---0---|
D --3--------0------------0---|
A ------------0-----2------0--| [play intro riff twice]
E ---------------3------------|
    3rd wld  is jstaround the corner


[outro]:

over the outro lines play [verse part 2]then [intro], for example:

[]
F               G                   C  C/B      Am      G
1 leap forwards 2 leaps back, will politics get me the sack

[][]
F               G           C       C/B Am Am  C C/B Am Am
waiting for the great leap forwards

Here's the full thing

1.
[play verse part1]
         C                 C/B           Am               G
         It may have been camelot for   Jack and   Jacqueline
or on the Che Guevara    highway filling up with     gasoline
         Fidel Castro's brother spies a rich lady who's crying over
        luxury's    disappointment so he walks over and he's trying

[play verse part2]
     F              G           C         C/B       Am
to sympathise with her but he thinks that he should warn her
G         F              G              [play intro]
that the third world is just around the corner

C  C/B  Am  Am    C  C/B  Am  Am


2.
[play verse part1]
        C             C/B            Am           G
        in the Soviet Union,     a scientist is blinded
by the resumption of nuclear testing and he is reminded*

[play verse part2]
      F            G             C   C/B   Am   G
that Doctor Robert Oppenheimer's optimism fell
F  G               [play intro]
     at the first hurdle

C  C/B  Am  Am    C  C/B  Am  Am


3.
        C               C/B                 Am                 G
        In the cheese pavilion,         the only noise I       hear
is the sound of someone stacking chairs and mopping up spilled beer

     F              G             C     C/B      Am
and someone asking questions and basking in the light
G      F                    G                       [play intro]
of the fifteen fame filled minutes of the fanzine writer

C  C/B  Am  Am    C  C/B  Am  Am


4.

   C              C/B                Am                G
   Mixing pop and politics,       he asks me what the use is
I offer   him   embarrassment and my usual           excuses*

       F               G                 C       C/B     Am    G
while looking down the corridor out to where the van is waiting
     F              G           [play intro]
I'm looking for the great leap forwards

C  C/B  Am  Am    C  C/B  Am  Am


5.
C                C/B                       Am                G
Jumble sales are organised and          pamphlets have been posted
even after     closing time, there's still parties to  be  hosted*

           F               G              C      C/B       Am
you can be active with the activists or sleep in with the sleepers
G
while you're
F               G           [play intro]
waiting for the great leap forwards

C  C/B  Am  Am    C  C/B  Am  Am

[outro]:
   F               G                  C   C/B      Am     G
oh 1 leap forwards 2 leaps back, will politics get me the sack
  F              G           C [intro] C/B  Am  Am
waiting for the great leap forwards

      F                             C
well here comes the future and you cant run from it
   C            C/B         Am       G
if you've got a blacklist I wanna be on it
  F              G           C [intro] C/B  Am  Am
waiting for the great leap forwards

            F                    G
well its a mighty long way down rock and roll
     C          C/B       Am        G
from top of the pops to drawing the dole
         F              G           C [intro] C/B  Am  Am
you're waiting for the great leap forwards

   F                G
if no-one out there understands
            C      C/B        Am           G
start your own revolution and cut out the middleman
  F              G           C [intro] C/B  Am  Am
waiting for the great leap forwards

      F                      G
in a perfect world we'd all sing in tune
      C      C/B        Am           G
but this is reality so give me some room
  F              G           C [intro] C/B  Am  Am
waiting for the great leap forwards

    F                  G
so join the struggle while you may
         C        C/B    Am        G
the revolution is just a T-shirt away
  F              G           C [intro] C/B  Am  Am
waiting for the great leap forwards


d is a downstroke
u is an upstroke (kind of a lazy, incidental one)
h is a hammer on

* at the end of the last line of [verse part 1], the walk up from the G
to the C *might* be replaced by a walk up from a C to an F, so it'd be
the same fingering as the other lines of the verse, but move the end bit
all up one string


chords

EADGBe
x32010 - C
x20010 - C/B
x02210 - Am
320003 - G
xx3211 - F

Have fun


Nic
Nic.Boulton@bn.cwplc.com