Green Flower Street - Donald Fagen
----------------------------------
From the album "The Nightfly"
Transcribed by Howard Wright [hakwright (at) gmail (dot) com]
and Chris Davis [crdavis.music (at) gmail (dot) com]
Howard's notes
---------------
A big thanks to Chris for sending me his excellent transcription and getting
this started. I've modified some of his chord shapes/names, but much of what
I ended up with owes a lot to Chris' initial work.
Finding chord voicings that work on the guitar but still capture the key
harmonic flavours is always a challenge on strongly keyboard-based songs
such as this. And like many of the Nightfly songs, the harmonies here have
a strong voice-leading element, where the movement of individual notes that make
up the chords needs to be balanced carefully to achieve a satisfying transition
between chords.
I've included alternative chord shapes for some sequences, where different
trade-offs are possible between harmonic fidelity, pleasing chord transitions
and playability of the chord shapes. Feel free to experiment further to find
chord voicings that work for you.
I find that using a more finger-style approach (rather than a pick) with my
"strumming hand" works best to get the tight/staccato sound of the rhythm part.
Using thumb and 3 fingers to pluck the strings works for most of the chords
(which have 4 notes), and a strum can be used for chords with 5 notes.
This finger-style makes it easier to avoid/mute selected strings (often in the
middle of the chord), but if you prefer to strum with a pick, you may find slightly
different voicings work better for you.
All chord shapes (including alternatives) are given at end.
Chris' notes:
--------------
(regarding the main intro/verse vamp)
I'm not sure how to characterize the said harmony figure. On the one hand, the
funky Am6 flavor suits the song, with the sequenced neighbor chord of the E7/A
(really just the tritone sound) as a passing thing, like an appoggiatura.
Really it shouldn’t be called E7/A, as that suggests a function.
Intro:
-------
Pay attention to the dynamics and use of staccato for the last note in each
phrase.
E----------------------------------------------------------------||
B----------------------------------------------------------------||
G----/2--2--2--------/2--2--2--------/2--2--2--------/2--2--2----||
D----------------------------------------------------------------||
A--0---------------0---------------0--------------0--------------||
E----------------------------------------------------------------||
Intro and Verse vamp:
----------------------
This vamp is based on an Am6 sound, with the higher notes in the chord
moving up a tone then back down. The basic rhythmic pattern uses 3 chord
hits, with the 2nd chord strongly accented. But there's a light, staccato
repeat of the 3rd chord - almost like a ghost note - in the first half
of the intro pattern (see tab below).
The voicing that I find works best on guitar for this Am6 vamp in the
intro and verse is based on a x0421x shape, in other words:
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A Am6
E------------------------------------
B-----1--3--1-(1)--------1--3--1-----
G-----2--4--2-(2)--------2--4--2-----
D-----4--6--4-(4)--------4--6--4-----
A--0-----------------0---------------
E------------------------------------
You could also use a x0455x shape, moving up and down 2 frets, but the closer
voicing of the x0421x sounds better to me.
Verse 1:
--------
Note the subtle variation of the vamp on each occurrence of the line "it's murder":
after this line the vamp DOESN'T drop immediately back down to Am6 but stays
2 frets higher until the start of the next vamp sequence.
(How many hundreds of times have I listened to this song and never noticed that?!)
This variation happens in exactly the same way in all verses, so is clearly
deliberate - possibly done to add a little extra harmonic tension on those lines.
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A
Uptown it’s murder out in the street
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A Am6
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A
Uptown it’s murder out in the street
Cmaj7 F#7 Fmaj7 E7
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A Am6
That’s where I found my man – d’rin plum
C/D D C/D F/G
That’s where you’d be if you found one
Chorus:
--------
Fmaj7 B7 Em11 F/G
Where the nights are bright and joy is complete
Fmaj7 E7 C/D
Keep my squeeze on Green Flower Street
Vamp:
------
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A Am6
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A Am6
Verse 2
-------
(chords as verse 1)
Since May, there’s trouble most every night
Since May, there’s trouble most every night (trouble every night)
Where once we danced our sweet routine
It reeks of wine and kerosene
Chorus:
--------
Where the nights are bright and joy is complete
Keep my squeeze on Green Flower Street
Vamp:
------
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A Am6
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A Am6
Bridge
-------
Gm9 C13
There’s a special place for lovers
Fmaj9add6 Dm7
One we understand
G9 Bb/C
There where neon bends in daylight sky
A/F Dm/F A Dm/A
Cm7 Eb/F
In that sunny room she soothes me
Bbmaj7 Ebmaj9
Cools me with her fan
Bm7 B7 Bb/E E Bb/E E Bb/E E Bb/E E
We’re drifting, a thousand years roll by
Solo
-----
Gm/C Am/C Gm/C Gm/C Am/C Gm/C
Gm/C Am/C Gm/C Gm/C Am/C Gm/C
Gm/C Am/C Gm/C Gm/C Am/C Gm/C
Gm/C Am/C Gm/C Gm/C Am/C Gm/C
F/G
Gm/C Am/C Gm/C Gm/C Am/C Gm/C
Eb/F F Eb/F Ab/Bb
Abmaj7 D7 Gm11 Ab/Bb
Fmaj7 E7 C/D D/E
Vamp:
------
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A Am6
Verse 3
-------
(Same chords as previous verses, with slight variation for the
"burns with rage" line to reflect the richer vocal harmonies)
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A
Lou Chang, her brother is burning with rage
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A Am6
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A
Lou Chang, her brother is burning with rage
Cmaj7 F#7(#9) Fmaj7 E7(#9) Am6/9
(Lou Chang burns with rage)
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am6 E7/A
I’d love to know what’s on his mind
C/D D C/D F/G
He says hey buddy, you’re not my kind
Chorus:
--------
Fmaj7 B7 Em11 F/G
Where the nights are bright and joy is complete
Fmaj7 E7 C/D F#7b5
Keep my squeeze on Green Flower Street
Fmaj7 B7 Em11 F/G
Where the nights are bright and joy is complete
Fmaj7 E7 C/D D/E
Keep my squeeze on Green Flower Street
Outtro:
--------
Am6 E7/A Am6 Am(maj9)
Chord Shapes
=============
All chord shapes used are listed below (including alternative shapes),
broken down by section.
Intro & Verses:
---------------
Am6 E7/A
x0421x x0643x
The descending sequence Cmaj7 F#7 Fmaj7 E7 holds an E at the top of the first
three chords, falling to a D at the top of the E7 chord, with a steadily
falling pattern of root + 3rd underneath.
With minimal voicings on the guitar you could play:
Cmaj7 F#7 Fmaj7 E7
x3545x xx435x xx325x xx213x
Finding slightly fuller voicings that keep the "held top note with falling root + 3rd"
elements is harder on guitar than keyboard, but for the F#/F/E shapes you could use:
F#7 Fmaj7 E7
2x435x 1x3210 0x213x
Another option (Chris' original shapes) is to use the top open E string throughout:
F#7 Fmaj7 E7
xx4320 xx3210 xx2130
C/D D C/D F/G
x5555x x5777x xx0553 xx5565
Verse 3 "burns with rage" sequence
Cmaj7 F#7#9 Fmaj9add6 E7#9 Am6/9
x3545x x 9 8 9 10 x x87780 x76780 x04500
or:
Cmaj7 F#7#9 F6/9 E7#9 Am6/9
x3545x 24x355 1x3233 0x2133 x04500
Chorus:
-------
Fmaj7 B7 Em11 F/G
x 8 10 9 10 x 7 x 9 8 10 x x7778x xx5565
Fmaj7 E7 C/D
x 8 10 9 10 x x7979x xx0553
Alternative shapes for this chorus sequence:
Fmaj7 B7 Em11 F/G
xx3555 x2x445 xx2233 xx5565
Fmaj7 E7 C/D
xx3555 xx2434 x5x553
Additional chords in final chorus:
F#7b5 D/E
2x231x x7777x
Using x5555x for the C/D chord that precedes the F#7b5 gives a better transition
to this chord in the final chorus.
Bridge:
-------
Gm9 C13 Fmaj9add6 Dm7
x 10 8 10 10 x 8 x 8 9 10 x x87780 x5756x
(For a more compact voicing you could omit the top E in the Fmaj9add6 shape
and just play F6/9 x8778x, or use Fmaj9 x8798x)
G9 Bb/C A/F Dm/F A Dm/A
x 10 9 10 10 x 8x876x x8x655 x8x76x x0x655 x0x76x
(for the A/F and A shapes above you may want to omit the top A note to emphasise
the moving 3rds)
Cm7 Eb/F Bbmaj7 Ebmaj9
x3534x xx3343 6x776x x6576x
(you could use Eb6/9 x6556 instead of Ebmaj9 - I think both the 6, maj7 and 9th
are in the keyboard voicing)
These voicings work nicely for the "we're drifting line":
Bm7 B7
7x770x 7x780x
Alternative voicings, which include the change in bass over the B7 chord:
Bm7 B7/D#
x2423x x6744x
The long descending keyboard arpeggio part that leads into the solo section
is based on an alternating Bb/E E sequence:
Bb/E E
0 x 12 10 11 x 0x999x
Solo:
-----
Gm/C Am/C F/G
x3533x 8x755x 3x321x
(C bass note in the Am/C shape can be omitted)
Eb/F F Eb/F Ab/Bb
x8888x x 8 10 10 10 x x8x886 xx8898
Abmaj7 D7 Gm11 Ab/Bb
x 11 13 12 13 x 10 x 12 11 13 x x 10 10 10 11 x xx8898
Alternative shapes for this sequence:
Abmaj7 D7 Gm11 Ab/Bb
xx6888 xx0778 xx5566 xx8898
or even:
Abmaj7 D7 Gm11 Ab/Bb
4x554x x5453x 3x331x 6x654x
For the last line (Fmaj7 - "keep my squeeze") use same shapes as for chorus.
Outtro:
--------
Am6 E7/A
x0421x x0643x
Am(maj9)
x 0 10 9 9 7
Back to Steely Dan and Donald Fagen guitar tabs
Last updated: July 2020
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