• Song:

    1979

  • Artist:

    Smashing Pumpkins

  • Album:

    Turpentine Kisses

Song:   1979
Artist: The Smashing Pumpkins
Album:  Mellon Chollie and the Infinite Sadness

URL:    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellon_Collie_and_the_Infinite_Sadness;http://
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1979_%28song%29

Tempo:  6|8
Method: Chorus & slight reverb style
Tuning: Half-Step Down (EbAbDbGbBbeb)

Capo 2

Chords:
        123456
G       320003
Dmaj7   000222
D5      XX023X
Em7     020000
A       X02220
Gmaj7/E XX0002
E       244322
Bm      X24432


Intro Riff:
|Dmaj7 D5|
|Dmaj7 D5|


Verse 1:
G              Dmaj7 D5
Shakedown 1979,
G                        Dmaj7 D5
Cool kids never have the time.
G                               Em7
On a live wire right up off the street
        A             Dmaj7 D5
You and I should meet.


Verse 2:
G                       Dmaj7 D5
Junebug skipping like a stone
G                              Dmaj7 D5
With headlights pointed at the dawn.
G
We were sure we'd never see
   Em7       A
An end to it all.


Chorus 1:
D5          Dmaj7 Gmaj7/D                    D5
And I don't even  care to shake these zipper blues,
    Dmaj7    Gmaj7/D                        D5
And we don't know just where our bones will rest.
   Dmaj7   Gmaj7/D
To dust I  guess,
              Em7               A        Dmaj7 D5
Forgotten and absorbed into the earth be-low.


Riff:
|G    Dmaj7 D5|


Verse 3:
G                               Dmaj7 D5
Double cross the vacant and the bored,
G                                     Dmaj7 D5
They're not sure just what we have in store.
G                      Em7          A
Morphine city slippin' dues down to see.


Chorus 2:
D5       Dmaj7 Gmaj7/D                D5
We don't even  care as restless as we are,
   Dmaj7    Gmaj7/D                        D5
We feel the pull in the land of a thousand guilts.
    Dmaj7  Gmaj7/D
And poured cement,
             A
Lamented and assured.


Bridge:
                    Bm    G
To the lights - and towns below,
A                 Bm       G
Faster than - the speed of sound.
A                Bm           G
Faster than - we thought we'd go,
   Em7       A               Dmaj7 D5
Be-neath the sound - of hope.


Verse 4:
G                      Dmaj7 D5
Justine never knew the rules,
G                             Dmaj7  D5
Hung down with the freaks and ghouls.
G                         Dmaj7 D5
No apologies ever need be made,
D5                     Em7        A
I know better than you fake it to see.


Chorus 3:
D5            Dmaj7 Gmaj7/D                   D5
That we don't even  care to shake these zipper blues,
    Dmaj7    Gmaj7/D                        D5
And we don't know just where out bones will rest.
   Dmaj7  Gmaj7/D
To dust I guess,
              Em7               A        Dmaj7 D5
Forgotten and absorbed into the earth be-low.


Coda:
G                               Dmaj7 D5
The street heats the urgency of now,
G                         D5
As you see there's no-one around.


[End]


Notes:
1. After many frustrated attempts in the 'Pumpkins preferred Eb tuning, this was my 
approach to capture the 'spirit of the song' with simple, practical chords in an Open 
Tuning.  There are obviously many variants.
2. Corgan wrote "1979" as the last of approximately 56 songs for this album.  He 
"...considers "1979" the most personally important song on Mellon Collie."
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