I saw the other tabs for this when trying to learn it & realised they are horribly wrong!!!
This is the 100% correct tab for this song, as:
1. Im a HUGE Bowie fan.
2. Im sure it's right.
3. I've seen him play the song after coming up with this & i am right.
Gx is an odd variation of G.
David Bowie played this on a 12-string acoustic, but will sound similar on a normal, not
exact though.
Standard Tuning:
C/G: C/Gm:
e|-0----| e|-0----|
B|-1----| B|-1----|
G|-0----| G|-0----|
D|-2----| D|-0----|
A|-3----| A|-3----|
E|-3----| E|-3----|
Fmaj7: Fmaj7m:
e|-0----| e|-0----|
B|-1----| B|-1----|
G|-2----| G|-0----|
D|-3----| D|-3----|
A|-3----| A|-3----|
E|-0----| E|-0----|
Gx:
e|-0----|
B|-3----|
G|-4----|
D|-5----|
A|-5----|
E|-0----|
The intro therefore goes:
& repeat.
(slide on the way through)
C/G Gx Fmaj7 C/G Gx Fmaj7
e|-0--0---0---0----0--0--0---0---0-|
B|-1--1---3---1----1--1--1---3---1-|
G|-0--0---4---2----0--0--0---4---2-|
D|-2--2---5---3----2--2--2---5---3-|
A|-3--3---5---3----3--3--3---5---3-|
E|-3--3---0---0----3--3--3---0---0-| (intro & riff)
Repeat the intro 4 times, electric guitar kicks in after 2 repetitions.
Then it's as follows:
-strumming-
C/G C/Gm (let go with the middle finger softly)
I'm up on the eleventh floor
Fmaj7 Fmaj7m
And I'm watching the cruisers below
C/G C/Gm
My heart's in the basement
Fmaj7 Fmaj7m
My weekend's at an all time low
C/G C/Gm
He's down on the street
Fmaj7 Fmaj7m
And he's trying hard to pull sister Flo
C/G C/Gm
'Cause she's hoping to score
Fmaj7 Fmaj7
So I can't see her letting him go
E
Walk out of her heart
F G
Walk out of her mind
[CHORUS]
B D
She's so swishy in her satin and tat
B D
In her frock coat and bipperty-bopperty hat
B (no strum)
Oh God, I could do better than that
Riff x 4
C/G C/Gm
She's an old-time ambassador
Fmaj7 Fmaj7m
Of sweet talking, night walking games
C/G C/Gm
And she's known in the darkest clubs
Fmaj7 Fmaj7m
For pushing ahead of the dames
C/G C/Gm
If she says she can do it then she can do it,
Fmaj7 Fmaj7m
she don't make false claims
C/G C/Gm
But she's a Queen, and such are queens
Fmaj7 Fmaj7
That your laughter is sucked in their brains
E
Now she's leading him on
F
And she'll lay him right down
G
But it could have been me Yes, it could have been me
Why didn't I say,
why didn't I say, no, no, no
[CHORUS]
C/G C/Gm
So I lay down a while And I gaze at my hotel wall
Oh the cot is so cold It don't feel like no bed at all
C/G C/Gm
Yeah I lay down a while And I gaze at my hotel wall
But he's down on the street So I throw both his bags down the hall
E
And I'm phoning a cab
F
'Cause my stomach feels small
There's a taste in my mouth And it's no taste at all
G
It could have been me Oh yeah, it could have been me
Why didn't I say,
Why didn't I say, no, no, no
[CHORUS]
Repeat Riff until you end with a hard upstroke.
