Night In The City

You need to use a capo at the 5th fret, bringing the guitar
tuning up to the key of G (tune the open strings to the open
D tuning above *before* adding the capo).

NB: All fret numbers in the tablature and chord shapes are 
relative to the capo at the 5th fret.

I've used a few clues from a video performance of Joni playing
this song to fill in some chord shapes that I wasn't sure
about. This transcription is for the CD version of the song
though (the version from the video is slightly different).


Strumming pattern
------------------

There is quite a busy strumming pattern for this song, using
triplet patterns. Each bar has 4 strong beats, each of which
is broken up into three triplets. Try counting:

 *      *      *      *
 1 2 3  2 2 3  3 2 3  4 2 3

(the asterisks mark the four strong beats).


The basic strumming pattern is written below, where an "x"
indicates a strum, and "X" indicates an accented (strong )strum:

 X   x  X x x  X   x  X x x  
 1 2 3  2 2 3  3 2 3  4 2 3 

 ^             ^
 |             |
 |             |

The two arrows mark where down-strokes are used on the bottom strings.
All the other strums are on the middle and upper strings, using
alternate down- and up-strokes.

An example of the strumming pattern is given below for the intro.



INTRO: 
------

D----------------------0----4---0---------------------
A-----------0-------0-------0-----0----0-------0---0--
F#------0--------1-------0--3---------------1---------
D-----0---0------0----------4-------4-------2---------
A-------------0--2--------------------------0---------
D---0---------------------------------------0---------
  


Strumming pattern starts:

D----------0-0-0-------0-0-0---------0-0-0-------0-0-0----
A----------0-0-0-0-----0-0-0-0-------0-0-0-0-----0-0-0-0--
F#---------6-6-6-6-----5-5-5-5-------6-6-6-6-----3-3-3-3--
D----------7-7-7-7-----6-6-6-6-------7-7-7-7-----4-4-4-4--
A------0-----------0-------------0-----------0------------
D------0-----------0-------------0-----------0------------

       *     *     *     *       *     *     *     *
Count: 1 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 3 4 2 3 | 1 2 3 2 2 3 3 2 3 4 2 3
       d   d u d u d   d u d u   d   d u d u d   d u d u 

(d and u indicate down and up-strokes)
Use this strumming pattern throughout most of the song.

  
VERSE 1:
--------

Note: Joni uses a hammer-on from the open strings whenever she
plays the 022100 chord ("Moon's up...", "Taking the town" etc).


007600  006500  007600  004300
Light   up       light up 


007600        006500    004300
Light up your lazy blue eyes 


022100   020100    040300   000000
         Moon's up, night's up 


022100             x02100      (x02102) 
Taking the town by surprise 


007600  006500  007600  004300
 Night time,      night time 
  

007600      006500  004300
Day left an hour    ago


022100  020100  040300  000000
         City   light   time 
  

022100                x04304  x02102  x02100
Must you get ready so slow?       There are 
  

000000     020100      040300  020100  000000
places to come from and pla - ces    to go 
  


D---0---0--0-0-0---0--0--0--0--0-0---0-0---0--0-0-0-----
A---0---0--0-0-0---0--0--0--0--0-0---0-0---0--0-0-0-----
F#--3---3--3-3-3---0--1--0--3--0-1---0-0---0--0-0-0-----
D---4---4--4-4-4---0--2--0--4--0-2---0-0---0--0-0-0-----
A---4---4--4-4-4---0--2--0--4--0-2---0-0---0--0-0-0-----
D---0---0--0-0-0---0--0--0--0--0-0---0-0---0--0-0-0----- 



CHORUS:
-------

For some of the 002100 chords I think that Joni sometimes 
adds a note on the top string at the 2nd fret. In particular, 
after the x04304 chord, I think Joni often moves this chord 
down 2 frets to x02102 before playing x02100, but the x02102
chord is played only very briefly. 

It's hard to make it out from the CD, but for the last line
("... time") I think she plays both 002100 and 002102. 


040300       004304     002100    000000
Night in the city looks pretty to me 


040300       004304     x02100   
Night in the city looks fine 
  
  
040300       004304       002100   000000
Music comes  spilling out into the street 
  
  
040300    004304      002100    
Colors go flashing in time 
  
  

VERSE 2: 
--------

Take off, take off 
Take off your stay at home shoes 
Break off, shake off 
Chase off those stay at home blues 
Stairway, stairway 
Down to the crowds in the street 
They go their way 
Looking for faces to greet 
But we run on laughing 
With no one to meet 


CHORUS: 
-------

Night in the city looks pretty to me 
Night in the city looks fine 
Music comes spilling out into the street 
Colors go waltzing in time 


OUTTRO:
-------

D-----0--0-0----0--0---0--0-0----0-----------
A-----0--0-0-0--0------0--0-0----0-----------
F#----6--6-6-6--5------6--6-6-6--3-----------
D-----7--7-7-7--6------7--7-7-7--4-----------
A--0-----0---0--0----0----0---0--0-----------
D--0-----0------0----0----0------0----------- 
   

© 1968 Siquomb Publishing Corp. BMI