Mercury Tab

#----------------------------------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. #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------##
#

Date: Tue, 19 Nov 1996 20:00:10 -0800
From: "Michael A. Mazur" 
Subject: TAB: Counting Crows, "Mercury"

Tab: "Mercury" Counting Crows
Transcribed by Michael A. Mazur (mmazur@wpi.edu)

Guitar 1 is an acoustic, tuned to open Eb (Eb Bb Eb G Bb Eb)
Guitar 2 is a mandolin, tuned down 1/2 step (Gb Db Ab Eb)

Note: Watch the time signature here. The main riff is in 14/8, which
I think of as a measure of 6 followed by a measure of 8 (as
I indicate below). But, the rest of the song is in 8/8, and the
shifts from 14/8 to 8/8 and back again are subtle.

Intro and main riff: 

|  |-----0-----------|----0--------------|
|  |--------0--2/3\2-|-------0-----0-----|
|14|-----------2/3\2-|-0--------------0--| Guitar 1 (all of guitar 1
| 8|-----------2/3\2-|-0-----------------| is played with a slide)
|  |-----------2/3\2-|-0-----------------|
|  |--0--------------|-0--------0--------|
    (6/8)             (8/8)

Verse: (guitar 1 plays main riff over Eb)
| |/5--------5--------|
| |/5--5-----5--------|
|8|/5-----5--5--5-----| Guitar 1 plays this for the Ab chord
|8|/5--------5-----5--| (note the change to 8/8)
| |/5--------5--------|
| |/5--------5--------|


Eb
She is trapped inside a month of grey
And they take a little every day
         Ab
She is a victim of her own responses
                                  Eb
Shackled to a heart that wants to settle
And the runs away

Chorus:
   Bb                  Ab
| |/7--------7--------|/5--------5--------|
| |/7--7-----7--------|/5--5-----5--------|
|8|/7-----7--7--7-----|/5-----5--5--5-----| Guitar 1
|8|/7--------7-----7--|/5--------5-----5--| (again in 8/8)
| |/7--------7--------|/5--------5--------|
| |/7--------7--------|/5--------5--------|

       Bb               Ab
It's a sin to be fading endlessly
                  Eb (guitar 1 plays main riff)
Yeah, but she's alright with me

She is leaving on a walkaway
She is leaving me in disarray
In the absence of a place to be
She stands there looking back at me
Hesitates, and then turns away
She'll change so suddenly
She's just like mercury
Yeah, but she's alright with me

Bridge:
|/12--|
|/12--|
|/12--| Guitar 1 plays this at the end of the chorus, and then
|/12--| plays the main riff over the bridge
|/12--|
|/12--|

|------------------------------|
|--7--7--7--7--9--9b(10)r9--9--| Guitar 2 (trem. picked)
|------------------------------|
|------------------------------|

(Guitar 1 plays last 8/14 of main riff once)

Keep some sorrow in your
hearts and minds
For the things that die before their time
For the restlessly abandoned homes
The tired and weary rambler's bones
And stay beside me where I lie
She's entwined in me
Crazy as can be
Yeah, but she's alright with me