Return to the Indigo Girls chords page

Printable version of this song Transpose this song up or down:
GALILEO (Emily Saliers)
-----------------------

[Amy plays this in E, capoed up 1 to F.  Emily plays it in C with a
 capo on the fifth fret and her guitar tuned to DADGBC.  I'm going to
 write down Emily's chords, because they're easier and more interesting.
 If you want to play Amy's chords, you can figure them out; since it's
 in E, there are a lot of barre chords.]
[Actually, when I play this, I usually just play Emily's chords, but
 in standard tuning so I don't put my high E in danger of breaking when
 I tune back up.  If you play in standard tuning, play the verse as
 C G F G7-G6; it's pretty easy to play the G7 - G6 part, as long as
 you play G as 320003 with your pinky on the high E string.  Just play
 Em(C)/B as Em, and play D13 as D or D11 (554030).]


[Each chord is half a measure, except "G7 - G6" is half a measure _total_.]

C    Gsus    F6(9)    G7 - G6      C    Gsus    F6(9)    G7 - G6
[intro]

C      Gsus           F6(9)        G7 - G6
   Galileo's head was on the block
C                Gsus             F6(9)  G7 - G6
   The crime was looking up the truth
C              Gsus              F6(9)         G7 - G6
   And as the bombshells of my daily fears explode
         Am         Em(C)/B   F6(9)   Gsus
I try to trace them to my youth

And then you had to bring up reincarnation
Over a couple of beers the other night
And now I'm serving time for mistakes
Made by another in another lifetime

    C            Gsus          F6(9)       Gsus
How long till my soul gets it right?   Can any human
 C          Gsus               F6(9)     Gsus
being ever reach that kind of light?  I call on the
Am       Em(C)/B   D13    D13
resting soul  of  Galileo
         F6(9)       Gsus      C      Gsus   F6(9)   Gsus
King of night vision, king of insight

Then I think about my fear of motion
Which I never could explain
Some other fool across the ocean years ago
Must have crashed his little airplane

How long till my soul gets it right?
Can any human being ever reach that kind of light?
I call on the resting soul of Galileo
         F6(9)       Gsus      C      C
King of night vision, king of insight

Am          Am       F/A            F/A
   I'm not making a joke, you know me
        F#dim/A  F#dim/A   F/A      F/A
I take every - thing  so  seriously
      Am            Am            F/A          F/A
If we wait for the time till all souls get it right
        Gsus                  F6(9)      Gsus      F6(9)
Then at least I know there'll be no nuclear annihilation
      C        Gsus            F6(9)   Gsus
in my lifetime; I'm still not right

C    Gsus    F6(9)    G7 - G6      C    Gsus    F6(9)    G7 - G6
[guitar solo]
C    Gsus    F6(9)    G7 - G6      Am    Em(C)/B    D13    D13
[guitar solo]
F6(9)   Gsus      C   Gsus   F6(9)   Gsus      C   Gsus   F6(9)   Gsus
[guitar solo]

I offer thanks to those before me
That's all I've got to say
'Cause maybe you squandered big bucks in your lifetime
Now I have to pay

But then again it feels like some sort of inspiration
To let the next life off the hook
She'll say, "look what I had to overcome from my last life
I think I'll write a book"

How long till my soul gets it right?
Can any human being ever reach the highest light?
Except for the resting soul... (God rest his soul)
         F6(9)       Gsus      C      Gsus   F6(9)   Gsus
King of night vision, king of insight

     C            Gsus         F6(9)   Gsus
How long till my soul gets it right...
     C          Gsus               F6(9)   Gsus
How long till I meet that highest light...
     C   Gsus   F6(9)   Gsus   C.
How long?


CHORDS (tuning is DADGBC):

C: x32010    Gsus: 5x0030    F6(9): 3x0010    G7: 5x0035    G6: 5x0034
Am: x02210   Em(C)/B: x22000*   D13: 009900   F/A: x03210   F#dim/A: x04210

*this should probably be called Cmaj7/B, but in the context, it sounds more
 like E minor, so I'm calling it "E minor with an added C (and B bass)."



- transcribed by Adam Schneider, http://adamschneider.net/

Return to the Indigo Girls chords page