Unemployment (J.J. Cale)

[D][E][A][B][G][A]

[D][E][D][E]

[D][E] Beating down the pavement,[A][B][G][A] looking for a job

[D][E] I'll do anything except  [A][B][G][A]  steal and rob

[G][A]  Unemployment [G][A][G][A] is something I can't [D][E] use 

If you [B]can't use me, [A]can you tell me something [D][E] new 

"Takin' Care Of Business" (J.J. Cale)

The #8 album has some nice suprises. I never liked the album, really, sounds thinner (due to first time digital recording?) and all that.


Anyway, this one's a nice little boogie number that introduces the band members, so wonder why he doesn't play this live much?


Key: F#.The intro is mostly the F# minor pentatonic.


Chords are:

[B]Tim Drummond's on bass, Jim Keltner's on the [F#]drums

[B]They'll put it right on you for a shot of [F#]rhum

[B]I'll tell you right now it's a [F#]funky [C#]beat
[A]Downtown, [Ab(m)]takin' care of [F#]business on the street

Hard Times

The chords for this minor masterpiece are:

F Ab Bb for ever in a loop. One bar of F, half a bar of Ab and half a bar of Bb. Repeat.

So it's like:

[F]Hard times[Ab][Bb]

The intro is something like (without the more quiet scratching in between):

---1-4-1--1--4-4-6--1---4-4-4-4-6--1---

-1--------1--4-4-6--1---4-4-4-4-6--1---

----------2--5-5-7--2---5-5-5-5-7--2---

----------3--6-6-8--3---6-6-6-6-8--3---

-----

-----

So that's just the 4 note lick from Fm pentatonic, plus strumming the same chords as the whole song is revolving around. 

Losers

Oh well, one of the my least favorite JJ tunes ever ever.

The main part is a 8 bar blues in C:

CCFF

CGCC

And the bridge thingy ("Came in this morning" etc):

FCGC

FCGC

ever. Did I already say that?

Trouble In The City

This might be slightly fuzzy, 

as I am trying to cop this out very quietly in the dark of night on my acoustic...

[Bm]Heard the one about your woman
Lord, she's been messing 'round
[E]She's been stepping out on the street
Lord, she's been hanging out[Bm]
[E]Ain't nobody had her this week, 

[Bm]boy it [A]won't take [E]long
[Bm]Lord, lord, there's trouble in the city
Lord, lord, there's trouble in the city
Lord, lord, there's trouble in the city
And I [D]hope it won't [A]mess with [Bm]me

The guitar fills appear to be from B minor pentatonic scale.

"Livin' here too"

Another quickie off album #8. To me this always sounds sort of like a second rate try to make another Cocaine, because of the similar riff. But hey, it's JJ, so I love it. :D

The riff is played like this:
A A A C
D D D C

I play them like open E chord but up fifth fret for A and 8th fret for the C and 10th fret for D.

The bridge part is just D and C each strummed only once at a time:
[D]My mother was poor, [C]my father too
[D]I'll take anything I can [C]get from you

"Reality"

Not my fave, but well, it's simple so here's the chords:
It's a 12 bar blues in G. Ending with two bars of G, like usual for JJ.

The intro solo bit seems to open with slide up to D7-shaped G7 at :

------------
(5s6)--6----
-6s7-----7--
------------
------------
------------


I'm not too sure about that, but at least sounds ok to my ears over the intro... :d

"People lie"

Then there's the political songs of JJ Cale. Like People lie, The Problem, Unemployment, Downtown LA, Trouble In The City, Livin' Here Too, Stone river, Homeless, etc.

I think #8 is the darkest album of his. With a black cover to boot. Maybe that's the other part of why I never liked the album that much (the other being the thin tone). Just look at the list of the 9 JJ penned songs: Money talks, Losers, Hard times, Reality, Takin' care of business, People lie, ... all the songs are about the tough modern world.

I dig this line in the lyrics of People lie:

"Well, I bought me a new car, a limo, no doubt
The wheels fell off, the salesman he was out"

The "wheels fell off" bit reminds me of Neil Young's Piece of crap, where he sings "bought a plastic bag, teh bottom fell out, it was a piece of crap". Yes, quality isn't what it used to be...

The song is in the key of E. For once, a true white man's blues guitar key! Maybe it part of the more urban sound?

Anyway, it's a basic 12 bar blues:
E///E///E///E///
A///A///E///E///
E///D///E///E///

The end of the song has a ending lick similar to many of JJ's song closing phrases. Of course he mostly closes with a fade-out, to hide off mistakes, he says. But I think it's just part of the package, the feel you get to hear a 2 minute clip of a great old 25 min barn jam! :D Leave them hungry for more, I say!

Anyway I will get to the ending and some other licks of this song later.