Boatman chords

James Taylor

Key: 

Simplify chords 

Capo: 2st fret

  			 

verse 1 
D(9) 
Hearts were exploding around us as 
               D/F#            G(9) 
we drifted south down the bay. 
     Bm7                 E7sus     E7 
The gray up above and gray down below 
Em7          D/F#           A7sus A7 
left us with nothing to say. 
      D(9) 
So we drifted along in silence 
          D/F#            G(9) 
till the tickle of life trickled in. 
         Bm7               E7sus         E7 
And the rhythm began in the hiss of the sand, 
Em7          D/F#           A7sus A 
we were catching fire again. 


G/D  D       G        D 
Oh boatman,  I am the river, 
G/D       D       A7sus A   D 
I am the mountain and   the sea. 
G/D  D        G         D    A/C# 
Oh   boatman, taker and giver, 
Bm7         E7   Em7  D/F#  G(9) 
Can you deliver me? 
G(9)       A           D    G/D  D 
I would forever run free. 

verse 2 
      D(9) 
Yeah, we finally caught up with legends, 
                 D/F#           G(9) 
we were walking along side by side. 
     Bm7                   E7sus       E7 
We worked out a plan to go out hand in hand, 
Em7             D/F#           A7sus A7 
the long trail just wasn't that wide. 
    D(9) 
The water around us was freezing, 
        D(9)        D/F#           G(9) 
we just laughed and threw ourselves in. 
    Bm7                       E7sus         E7 
And although we were old, the sting of that cold 
Em7           D/F#                A7sus A 
pumped up the feeling, here it is again. 


G/D  D       G        D 
Oh boatman,  I am the river, 
G/D       D       A7sus A   D 
I am the mountain and   the sea. 
G/D  D        G           D    A/C# 
Oh   boatman, taker and giver, 
Bm7         E7   Em7  D/F#  G(9) 
Can you deliver me? 
G(9)       A           D    G/D  D 
I would forever run free. 

BRIDGE 
    A     B7      E    A 
Oh, I'm a message in a bottle 
A        B7         E    A/E  E 
drifting along on a deep blue sea. 
A        B           E   A 
Waiting for some foreign shore, 
A         B/E        A 
ready for something to be. 

verse 3 
   D(9) 
No longer afraid of falling, 
           D/F#           G(9) 
we cut the strings to the sky. 
         Bm7                 E7sus         E7 
We found lever ground and we put ourselves down, 
Em7            D/F#   A7sus A7 
amazing we all didn't die. 
   D(9) 
We took each moment as given, 
              D/F#        G(9) 
by second, by second they came. 
    Bm7                     E7sus      E7 
The ice and the sun and the thundering guns, 
Em7            D/F#   A7sus A 
good God I was finally sane. 


G/D  D       G        D 
Oh boatman,  I am the river, 
G/D       D       A7sus A   D 
I am the mountain and   the sea. 
G/D  D        G           D    A/C# 
Oh   boatman, taker and giver, 
Bm7         E7   Em7   A7sus A 
Can you deliver me? 
G/D  D             G        D 
Oh   holy roller,  I am the river, 
G/D       D       A7sus A   D 
I am the mountain and   the sea. 
G/D  D        G           D    A/C# 
Oh   boatman, taker and giver, 
Bm7         E7   Em7  D/F#  G(9) 
Can you deliver me? 
G(9)       A        D 
I would forever run free.