St Vincent - "Your Lips Are Red"
Album - Marry Me
Taken from her Austin City Limits performance
Tuning - E standard
A few notes about this tab:
- This was all transcribed by repeatedly watching the Youtube video of her
performing at ACL. That being said, there will inevitably be mistakes. If you have any
changes/corrections, don't hesitate to contact me at aroman12345@gmail.com
- Annie plays this with a capo on the 2nd fret. I don't. It doesn't really make a huge difference.
- The timing for a lot of these riffs is really weird, so I suggest playing along with the song.
- To get that nasty fuzz tone, I recommend an octave fuzz & using the neck pickup
of a single-coil guitar.
Intro/Verse 1:
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|------------------------------------------------------------------|
|-10------10------10------10------10------10------10------10--8~---|
Your lips are red
My face is red from reading
your red - lips
All the notes, except the last 2, should be muted almost immediately after playing
them. You want a really staccato sound to it. Let the last 2 notes ring out a little
before starting the riff again.
Chorus/bridge/whatever you want to call it:
*
|-------------------|-----------------|-----------------|--------------|-----------------|-------|
|-13-13-13-13-13----|-13p12-----------|-15p14-----------|--------------|-----------------|-------| *
|-12-12-12-12-12----|-----------------|-------12~~------|-10p9---------|-12p11-----------|-------|
|--x--x--x--x--x----|-------14~~-15~~-|------------14~~-|------7~~-9~~-|-------10~~-12~~-|-/15~~-|x 2
|-10-10-10-10-10----|-----------------|-----------------|--------------|-----------------|-------| *
|-------------------|-----------------|-----------------|--------------|-----------------|-------|
* A note: I'm not entirely sure about this chord. It sounds close enough though.
Slather enough fuzz on it, and it won't matter
Verse 2:
Basically the same as verse 1, except double time. There's also one extra riff.
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-10--10--10--10--10--10--10--10--10--10--10--10--10--10--10--8---|
My face is drawn on with this
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
|-5-------7-------8-------12------10--10--10--10--10--10--10--8~~-|
num - ber two pen - cil
Chorus: Same as above
Noise break: make noise
Verse 3: Same as verse 2, minus the ascending riff
Chorus: Same
Noise break: Make more noise
Bridge 2:
This part, I'll admit needs corrections. What I'm playing is similar, but not
exactly the same. If anyone's figured out how to really play this riff, PLEASE get
at me
|-------------------------5-----8--7---------------|
|-------5-----5--8--5--8-----5--------8--5---------|
|----5-----5--------------------------------5~~----|
|-7------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|-------5--------5--------8-----10--9--------------|
|----7--------7--------7---------------10--7-------|
|-7--------7--------7--------7----------------7~~--|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|
|--------------------------------------------------|
Ending part:
Since most of us don't have a string & horn section at our disposal, I think this
works. Keep playing these 2 chords, and gradually layer reverb & delay on top of it.
Am7 (x02010@1) Dno5
|----------------------------|----------------------------------------|
|-1~~------------------------|-3~~------------------------------------|
|-0~~------------------------|-0~~------------------------------------|
|-2~~------------------------|-4~~------------------------------------|
|-0~~------------------------|-5~~------------------------------------|
|----------------------------|----------------------------------------|
Your skin's so fair Your skin's so fair it's not fair
Repeat this part until all band members get bored, or you notice your audience has
left.