John Hiatt Your Dad Did guitar tab

Your Dad Did by John Hiatt

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------##
From: Paul Hutchinson ([email protected])

YOUR DAD DID - John Hiatt
-------------------------
|A     |D/A   | x4

         A                                      D/A
Well the sun comes up and you stare your cup of coffee up
                          A       D/A
Right through the kitchen floor
        A
And you feel like hell, so you might as well
    D/A                         A            D/A
Get out and sell your smart ass door-to-door
        D      D/C#      D/B        D/A  A
And the missus wears her robe slightly undone
        D        D/C#      D/B     D/A     A
As your daughter dumps her oatmeal on your son
                E                        A
And you keep it hid - just like your dad did

So you go to work just to watch some jerk
Pick up the perks you were in line to get
And the guy that hired you just got fired
Your job's expired - they just ain't told you yet
So you go and buy a brand new set of wheels
Just to show your family just how great you feel
Acting like a kid - just like your dad did

F#m             E        D       A
   And you're a chip off the old block
F#m            E       D      A
   Why does it come as such a shock
F#m           E       D         A
   That every road up which you walk
        D           E
   Your dad already did?
   Yeah you've seen the old man's ghost
   Come back as green chip beef on toast
   Now if you don't get your slice of the roast
   You're gonna flip your lid - just like your dad did

Well the day was long, now supper's on
And the thrill is gone, but something's taking place
Yeah the food is cold and your wife feels old
But all hands folded as your two year old says grace
She says "Help the starving children to get well
But let my brother's hamster burn in hell"
You love your wife and kids - just like your dad did
Just like your dad did.
--------------

I had to stop myself from doing a full tab of this - I think Ry Cooder
would find me and rip my arms and  legs off just for missing the point
if I did. Beyond the  riff  itself,  this song is obviously completely
improvised - the  electric  basically  follows  the  chords at various
places along the neck,  sometimes   scooping  into  the  root note and
playing with the whammy bar - always  good  for a bit of childish fun.
Note that the electric is dropped-D  tuned  (low  to  high  DADGBE) to
get in some low Ds. I just love  the attitude of  this  song  - notice
the way that between the verses  the guitar  will  start  playing  the
riff late, like he'd forgotten,  but  doesn't  really care  much!  I'm
really  jarred  off  that  I'm  not  old  enough  to  play  this  song
convincingly.

Anyway, the riff goes something like
  + + + +   + + + +
|---------|---------|
|---------|---------|
|---------|---------|
|-7-6-4-2-|-0-------|
|---------|---4-2-0-|
|---------|---------|
In the introduction, this is built  up  each  time by harmonising it -
listen to the album, cause I'm not going to tab it.

Mostly, the verses are  built  up  by  messing  with  these 2 (vaguely
Free's All Right Now-ish) chords: A-x02225, D/A-x04235.
Occasionally he fiddles about with chords way up the neck like:
A/C#-x x 11 9 10 9,  D-x x 12 11 10 10.

The following is played at the end  of  each verse before '- just like
your dad did'- (remember that the guitar is dropped-D tuned)
  +   +   +   +     +
|-----------------|-----------|
|-----------------|-----------|
|-----------------|-----------|
|-----------------|-----------|
|-----------2-4---|-----------|
|---2-4-2/6-------|-2---------|

The riff after the 2nd verse is changed so it leads to the bridge like
this:
  + + + +   + + + +   + + + +   + + + +   +
|---------|---------|---------|---------|---
|---------|---------|---------|---------|---
|---------|---------|---------|---------|---
|---7-6-4-|-2-0-----|---7-6-4-|-2-------|---
|---------|-----4-2-|-0-------|---4-0---|---
|---------|---------|---------|-------2-|-4-

The acoustic guitar is standard tuned  and plays mostly first position
chords: A-x02220, D-xx0232, E-022100, F#m-244222
On the live Budokan version, the  acoustic  guitar solo bit before the
third verse is just him messing about with these chords:
A-xx765x, E-xx645x, D-xx423x.
Note also that on the Budokan version, the acoustic sort of copies the
sitar riff after "Help the starving children to get well" with
---------4-5---
-3-2-3-5-------  (loose timing)
---------------
---------------
---------------
---------------

Finally, the wee bass fill after "Something's taking place" is:
     +       +   +     +   +
--14-13----|-11----------11----|
--------14-|-----11-14---------|
-----------|-----------------12|
-----------|-------------------|