Basement Songs: This Desert

The purpose of Basement Songs is to allow our fans to play and sing along with Arthur's Concert for Iceland songs. We encourage you to send any recordings of your own renditions to carltonfarthington@gmail.com or share them with us (and the world!) through social media. Who knows, maybe one you could be up on stage with Arthur White!



INTRO (chorus chords):
Bm/G, Em7(b5)/F#, Am/F, A, A7/G
Bm/G, Em7(b5)/F#, Am/F, A, G, F#m, F/G, E/F#-F/G-F#/G#

(verse chords: all slash chords with A in bass) G, A, Bm, A, G-F#-G-F#-Em (2x)

VERSE 1:
G                      A                     Bm                 A
"I hope you feel much better," I wrote you in a letter
         G               F#  G F#  Em
Right out here on this desert plain
G                        A                      Bm               A
Was thinking that this desert goes on and on forever
   G                 F#  G  F#  Em
I struck out on a separate way
             F/Bb                      F#m7/B
But that way didn't guide me aright

CHORUS
Bm/G      Em7(b5)/F# Am/F
Babe, we laid it on the  line
                              A      A7/G
But I needed some time
Bm/G
Don't blame it on me babe
       Em7(b5)/F#    Am/F
Just blame it on my blindness
                               A    G   F#m             F/G   E/F#-F/G-F#/G#
Take a good look inside this envelope and see

Rustyy Kryystyylz SOLO (CHORUS chords)

VERSE 2:

And now and then I hesitate to say I'm better
Off when I'm in this awkward state
Looking for oasises in other faces,
These outlines that I tried to trace
But they all disappear in the night

CHORUS
                                A    G    F#m             F/G  FMaj7/G
...take a good look inside this envelope and see
EMaj7/F#-Fmaj7/G-F#Maj7/G#  Fmaj7/G-F#Maj7/G#-Gmaj7/A                     Bm/G
That-------this------ desert,          that------this----------desert won't hold on to me

EXTEMPORANEOUS SPOKEN WORD PART (A/G, Bm/G, etc. until B7)

VERSE 3:

And now and then I hesitate to say I'm better
Off when I'm in this awkward state
Looking at this cactus, I won't overreact: this
Is something I've just got to face
Before it all disappears in the night

CHORUS

...take a good look inside this envelope and see

EMaj7/F#-Fmaj7/G-F#Maj7/G#  Fmaj7/G-F#Maj7/G#-Gmaj7/A
That-------this------ desert,          that------this----------desert

EMaj7/F#-Fmaj7/G-F#Maj7/G#                          E/A, G#m, B6 (3x); E/A, G#m, B7
That-------this------ desert...       won't hold onto me

ENDING
F, C; F, C, D; F, C; F, C, B

F                                       C
This desert's gonna dry my eyes this time
F                                      C     D
This letter's gonna buy me time
F                                     C
Instead of losing my own mind
                       B                                  E
I thought we'd find a brand new life this time (2x)