Orange Juice Songbook

Dear OJ fans/guitar players,

 

Please find attached a draft of the distillation of 25 odd years of trying to figure out how he does it. I hope someone finds it useful and that it stimulates some sharing of ideas as to corrections/revisions/additions.

 

I originally put it on the Songs and Tabs section of the forum but it seems to have slipped off the radar. I got some welcome feedback at the time (thanks guys) and if you look there, Gary Cochran's comment about how difficult it is to figure out the chords for OJ songs is one I heartily agree with. Any ideas you have about, for example, the key of untitled melody or whether chords need tweaking would be very welcome.

 

I have used chord positions up and down the neck according to what my ears tell me are the dominant sounds but that is obviously personal preference. Any ideas as to the filling out and layering of the arrangements would be welcome.

 

Lastly, can anybody supply with the lyrics to punch drunk? It would make me a happy man.

 

Gary

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Permalink Reply by Administrator on April 7, 2010 at 15:22
Gary, I will show this monumental work to Edwyn later. I am somewhat struck dumb at the sheer effort of it. It's something he could never ever have been bothered to do and since his stroke, would anyway have been quite beyond him. Having said that, he is so much restored that when the players in his band get it wrong, he hears it immediately and can correct them, by demonstrating. He still doesn't know how to verbally describe a lot of them, never did. He would always go, "it's this and then this..." Dennis Bovell always said that "Collins has the best chords ever." One of the reasons he was so attracted to working with him. The funny thing is, the ambition of them. For a long time they were almost outside the scope of his playing ability! Especially live, hundreds of mistakes. But no matter, nothing wrong with a bit of over-reaching.
If we think about publishing them, as we surely will and in the not to distant future, would you mind being my first port of call to collaborate? I'm so impressed. Anyone else less dedicated would get it wildly wrong, I'm sure.
Permalink Reply by Gary Harris on April 7, 2010 at 18:15
Dear Grace,

I put this on the website months ago and tried to email Edwyn and you at the time. After an initial crop of warm comments from other members the silence got to be deafening and I started thinking that I might have presumed too much by usurping the treaures that those four albums worth of songs surely are. Your message had me blubbing tears of joy. Would I mind..? You can't imagine how thrilled I am at such a prospect.

Thank you so much for your kind words.
Permalink Reply by Gary Harris on July 24, 2012 at 16:19

Dear Grace,

 

How are you and how is Edwyn? All well I hope. It has been a while since i posted anything and I don't know where the time has gone. I saw on the AED website that Edwyn is playing in Kendal on 28th July but when I checked the venue link I couldn't see any mention. Is he playing?

 

Best wishes,

 

Gary

Permalink Reply by Kieron O'Callaghan on April 7, 2010 at 20:50
This is superb Gary, Well done!
Permalink Reply by Gary Harris on April 7, 2010 at 21:08
A more accurate version
Permalink Reply by Kieron O'Callaghan on April 7, 2010 at 21:15
Have you done any of the solo stuff? (A bit cheeky really, but I am really impressed with the OJ stuff)
Permalink Reply by Gary Harris on April 8, 2010 at 6:56
Not cheeky at all. The chords for Edwyn's solo stuff is a work in progress Kieron, nowhere near as complete as this. It's coming though.
Permalink Reply by Kieron O'Callaghan on April 8, 2010 at 19:18
Nice one, can't wait :-)
Permalink Reply by Gary Harris on April 9, 2010 at 16:01
A better version of Untitled Melody
Attachments:
Permalink Reply by Gary Harris on April 11, 2010 at 11:14
A more faithful version of Turn Away in honour of Malcolm Ross
Permalink Reply by Ian Murphy on April 11, 2010 at 19:42
Hi Gary,
Sorry if you felt there was not much feedback. I for one have been using your chords to try and muddle my way through a few OJ songs since you put them up. "Louise Louise" has always been one of my favourites and I am chuffed that I can now at least sound a bit like it! (Any differences being more about my playing than your transcription efforts by the way!)
I look forward to trying some more out.
Best wishes and thanks for sharing.
Ian
Permalink Reply by Gary Harris on April 14, 2010 at 16:31
Hi Ian,
I know what you mean about 'Louise Louise'. I've lost track of the time I've spent playing that one, tying myself in knots, experimenting with different fingerings, trying to get it to sound as smooth as the record. It's typical of all of the albums though and something that I still find strange and that keeps drawing me back to them even after all the years; you know, there's only a finite amount of stuff on each track but I keep finding things I haven't heard before (or hearing things in new ways). I can't explain it. Maybe it's because I had my guitar amp up so loud. My Dad was only ever half joking when he said he could see the ceiling moving.

About the amount of feedback to the posts. Are you surprised there hasn't been more discussion generated? Do you think fellow fans are aware that it's there? I sometimes wonder if everybody can play them already and if the document is therefore redundant. In any case, I've enjoyed doing it and I'm just about to upload my efforts so far on the solo stuff. This one's taken ages and I've still got 'Home Again' to work through.

What do you reckon?

Gary

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