URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mescaleros

Song: Forbidden City

Written: Joe Strummer

Album: Rock Art and the X-Ray Style

Background: From the debut album released by Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros in 1999.

Author: Richard Grosser ([email protected])

Tuning: Standard with ♪ Capo on 2nd fret

(Hence all chords are up two semitones, or a tone)

Chords:

C: ======= 332010

F7: ======= 131211

G: ======= 355433

Am: ======= 002210

Notes:

1. Totally revised from my previously posted 2008 version.

2. Where the chords are shown with triplets in brackets (e.g. x3)

…it’s a quick, forceful(forte) staccato rhythmic chords.

Intro:

(Tom-Tom & Bongos, over organ riff, with arpeggiated chords)

| C F7 G F7 |

Okay, dream of freedom…

| C F7 G F7 | C (x3)

Verse 1:

Under the moon in the dragon room,

Inside the mind of a soul confined.

Don’t talk about soon in the dragon room,

Under the scream of a jet machine.

F7(x3) G(x3) F7(x3)

Who knows in the hills,

Am(x3) F7(x3) G(x3) G

Who knows when she will.

Chorus 1:

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

C F7 C G(x3) F7(x3) C(x3)

…Oh, China, Yeah, China.

Verse 2:

Gold silk in a loom in the dragon room,

That silk that will be for the flag of the free.

F7(x3) G(x3) F7(x3)

Who knows in the hills,

Am(x3) F7(x3) G(x3) G

Who knows when she will.

Chorus 2:

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out.

Oh, China, Yeah, China.

Oh, China, Yeah, China.

Instrumental:

G(x3) F7(x3)

Yeah, they got lots of towers,

(Organ riff over muffled gunfire)

’ Never pushed someone so far.

Chorus 3:

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

When all the hidden pity in the forbidden city comes out,

Coda:

…Oh, Ch-i-na

[(End)]

Footnote:

This is an even more timely song, Joe! Especially, in 2012. :-R