This is «Watching the Apples Grow» from Stan Rogers’ really excellent
album Fogarty’s Cove. There’s some very good backup guitar which I
would really appreciate someone tabbing. It’s probably Curly Boy Stubbs
doing it, with Stan just playing rhythm, but I could be wrong.
Capo 2 frets up; the chords shown are just the chord shapes as if the
capo wasn’t there, so the REAL chords (if you don’t have a capo) would
be a whole step up, e.g. in the first verse: D,G,D,Bm,G,D
C F
It’s early up, Ontario farm, chicken crow for day
C Am
I wish I grew Annapolis apples up above Fundy’s Bay
F C
Oh it seems so far away
C F
On the ridge above Acadia’s town to the valley down below
C Am
The evening shadow falls upon the family listening to the radio
F C
And watching the apples grow
Chorus:
F C F C
Down on the farm, back among the family, away from Ontario
F C Am
Hear the ladies singing to their men, dancing it heel and toe
F C
And watching the apples grow
[There’s a fiddle solo at this point. If anyone would like to ]
[transcribe it, that’d be really cool. I mean transcribe it for ]
[fiddle, I could probably get it for guitar, with a lot of trouble. ]
C F
Ontario, y’know I’ve seen a place I’d rather be
C Am
Your scummy lakes and city of Toronto don’t do a damn thing for me
F C
I’d rather live by the sea
C F
I’ve watched the V’s of geese go by, the foxfoot in the snow
C Am
I’ve climbed the ridge of Gaspereaux Mt., looking to the valley below
F C
And watching the apples grow.
Chorus
Guitar Solo:
C
v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . .
e———-3—3-3——————|——3————————-0—e
B-/5—————3—1——-1-1-|/5——3—1——-1-1-1———B
G—————————2——-|——————2—————-G
D———————————-|———————————-D
A———————————-|———————————-A
E———————————-|———————————-E
F C Am F
v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . .
e—1—1-1-1-0——0—0-0-0——-|————————-1———e
B—————3————-3-1—|-1—1-1-1-0———————-B
G———————————-|——————2—————-G
D———————————-|———————————-D
A———————————-|———————————-A
E———————————-|———————————-E
C
v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . .
e—0-1-0—————————e
B———3-1-0—0-1—————B
G—————2——————-G
D———————————-D
A———————————-A
E———————————-E
Repeat chorus twice, then wrap it up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Notes on the Solo:
If anyone knows who’s playing this, please tell me!
It’s played quick & snappy- keeps you on your toes!
When he slides from/to a note it’s always started on a whole step (two
frets) above/below, whichever’s appropriate.
The backup Am and F following it are single strums only (this goes for
the rest of the song, too).
There are probably some grace notes & stuff which I didn’t get, ’cause
this is my first attempt at transcribing anything. Nevertheless, I
think it’s pretty good.
Notes on the Song:
Great song!
The rhythm is somewhat bluegrassy, a fast boom-chicka (bass note — strum
chord down/up).
The only real trouble I had was figuring out where the chord switch was
on the last line of each verse. There’s a run from F to C which I play
something like this:
F C
v . . . v . . . v . . . v . . .
|-1—————————0—|
|-1—————————1—|
|-2—————————0—|
|-3——-3—2—0—2——-2—|
|-3————————3—3—|
|———————————|
So I’m not entirely sure where the actual switch is, but I think it’s
right the way I finally put it.
Notes on the Tablature:
‘v’ is the beat.
‘. . .’ are the notes in-between, though the middle ‘.’ could be
considered a lighter downbeat.
‘/’ is a slide up the note following.
» is a slide down to the note following.
Please send any comments, questions, queries, criticisms, about this
transcription to ME because Stan Rogers ain’t around no more.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Peter Keller [[email protected]]~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Wakefield, Rhode Island~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~!!!!!!MORE BLUEGRASS!!!!!!!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
