HAITIAN DIVORCE - Steely Dan
------------------------------
from the album 'Royal Scam'
Transcribed by Howard Wright
Howard@jmdl.com
I first worked out the chords for this Steely Dan song about 6 years ago,
and looking back over it recently I realised I got a couple of the chords
wrong. I've gone through and corrected it and also added the chords for the
bridge and solo sections.
If you find the simple major and minor chords in the verses a a bit too plain
you could substitute a few 6 chords in place of the majors and m7 chords in
place of the minors.
All chord shapes given at the end.
INTRO:
------
Em7 Em6 Em7 Em6 Em7 Em6
E6 G#m7 A
VERSE 1:
--------
N.B for the two madd4 chords (G# & Bb) you can substitute m11 instead.
For the Bb chord this is more or less essential as the Bbm11 is a LOT
easier to play on the guitar than the Bbmadd4 chord. I'm fairly sure that
the chord actually played (on the piano) is Bbmadd4 though.
B F#m E C#m7
Babs and Clean Willie were in love they said
Amaj7 G#madd4 B/C# C#m
So in love the preacher's face turned red
B6 F#m E6 C#m7
Soon everybody knew the thing was dead
A-5 Bbmadd4 E A G#7
He shouts, she bites, they wrangle through the night, yeah
F#m B F#m B
She go crazy, got to make a get-away, Papa say
CHORUS:
-------
Em7 D6 Am7 G6
Oh Oh No hesitation
Cmaj7 Bm7 Cmaj7 Bm7 Em7
No tears and no hearts breakin' no remorse
Em7 D6 Am7 G6
Oh Oh congratulations
Cmaj7 Bm7 Cmaj7 Bm7
This is your Ha - itian divorce
Em7 Em6 E6 G#m7 A
VERSE 2
-------
(chords as verse 1)
She takes the taxi to the good hotel
Bon marché as far as she can tell
She drinks the zombie from the cocoa shell
She feels alright, she get it on tonight
Mister driver
Take me where the music play
Papa say
CHORUS
Em7 Em6 Em7 Em6
BRIDGE:
-------
Cmaj7 Em7
At the Grotto in the greasy chair
C/D G
Sits the Charlie with the lotion and the kinky hair
G7 Cmaj7
When she smiled, she said it all
F13 Gadd2 F13 Gadd2
The band was hot so they danced the famous Merengue
A7
Now we dolly back
C7
Now we fade to black
N.B For true authenticity on the G G7 change above you should play:
Gadd2 G G7
3x743x 3x543x 3x343x
... kinky hair. When she smiled ...
but the first chord is a bit of a stretch on the guitar, so playing just G G7
works nearly as well and is easier to play.
SOLO:
-----
G F C Bb A
G F C Bb A
G F C Bb A
Cmaj7 Bm7 Cmaj7 Bm7
Repeat intro sequence, then into:
VERSE 3
-------
Tearful reunion in the USA
Day by day those memories fade away
Some babies grow in a peculiar way
It changed, it grew, and everybody knew
Semi-mojo
Who's this kinky so-and-so?
Papa go
CHORUS
OUTRO:
------
Em7 G F C Bb A
G F C Bb A
G F C Bb A
Fmaj7 Em7 Em6
Fmaj7 Em7 Em6
repeat last line and fade
Chord Shapes
------------
For the Em7 and Em6 shapes you can also use the open bottom
E string as well if you prefer the slightly bigger bass sound.
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
x7x787 x7x687 022120 464444 577655
Em7 Em6 E6 G#m7 A
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
799877 244222 022100 x46454 5x665x
B F#m E C#m7 Amaj7
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
4x660x 4x442x x4444x x46654 x24444
G#madd4 G#m11 B/C# C#m B6
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
x0764x 6x864x 6x664x 46454x x79787 x57777
A-5 Bbmadd4 Bbm11 G#7 Em7 D6
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
5x555x 3x545x x35453 x24232 x5555x
Am7 G6 Cmaj7 Bm7 C/D
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE
355433 35343x 1x123x 3x020x 57565x
G G7 F13 Gadd2 A7
E A D G B E EADGBE EADGBE
8 10 8 9 8 x 133211 x3555x
C7 F C
EADGBE EADGBE EADGBE E A D G B E
x1333x x0222x 133210 x 8 10 9 10 8
Bb A Fmaj7 Fmaj7