Slouching Towards Bethlehem

Transcription originally by Sue McNamara, modified by Paul Winkler 
(zarmzarm@hotmail.com), with some ideas from Marian Russell's version.

Slouching Towards Bethlehem is one of my favorite songs, and I was
rather stumped as to how to play it, so I was thrilled to find a couple
of versions on the web. Just getting the right (?) tuning was a huge
help! But neither Marian's nor Sue's version sounded exactly right to
me, so I couldn't resist monkeying with it a bit...

I'm still not sure if the choruses are exactly right, but I think the
intro is pretty accurate now, and the verses sound right except that I'm
not sure about the x00020 chord.

Tuning: DAEGAD
        D77325

Note: 2h0 = second fret hammer off

Intro:

||||||  ||||||  ||||||   || |  | ||  || |  | ||
098700  555400  003300   ||2h02h0||  ||2h02h0||
||||||  ||||||  ||||||   || |  | ||  || |  | ||

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999900
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Turning and turning

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x00020              00 12 11 00
||||||              ||  |  | ||
Within the widening gyre

||||||                ||||||              ||  |  | ||
999900                x00020              00 12 11 00
||||||                ||||||              ||  |  | ||
The falcon cannot hear the falconer

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999900
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Things fall apart

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x00020               00 12 11 00
||||||               ||  |  | ||
The center cannot hold

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999900
||||||
And a blood dimmed tide

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x00020              00 2h0 2h0 00
||||||              ||  |  |   ||
Is loosed upon the world

Verse Two: same chords as above

Nothing is sacred
The ceremony sinks
Innocence is drowned
In anarchy
The best lack conviction
Given some time to think
And the worst are full of passion
Without mercy

Chorus:

||||||      ||||||          ||||||
555400      777600          999900
||||||      ||||||          ||||||
Surely some revelation is at hand

||||||
999900
||||||
Surely it's the second coming

              ||||||
              777600
              ||||||
And wrath has finally taken form

   ||||||             ||||||
   555400             777600
   ||||||             ||||||
For what is this rough beast

    ||||||
    999900
    ||||||
Its hour come at last

||||||                          ||||||
777600                          999900
||||||                          ||||||
Slouching toward Bethlehem to be born

||||||
7776||
||||||
Slouching toward Bethlehem

      ||||||  ||||||  ||||||   || |  | ||  || |  | ||
      098700  555400  003300   ||2h02h0||  ||2h02h0||
      ||||||  ||||||  ||||||   || |  | ||  || |  | ||
to be born

Hoping and hoping
As if by my weak faith
The spirit of this world
Would heal and rise
Vast are the shadows
That straddle and strafe
And struggle in the darkness
Troubling my eyes

Shaped like a lion
It has the head of a man
With a gaze as blank
And pitiless as the sun
And it's moving its slow thighs
Across the desert sands
Through dark indignant
Reeling falcons

Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it's the second coming
And wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born

Raging and raging
It rises from the deep
Opening its eyes
After twenty centuries
Vexed to a nightmare
Out of a stony sleep
By a rocking cradle
By the Sea of Galilee

Surely some revelation is at hand
Surely it's the second coming
And wrath has finally taken form
For what is this rough beast
Its hour come at last
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born
Slouching towards Bethlehem to be born

© 1991 Crazy Crow Music, all rights reserved.