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Uncle Arthur

Lyrics and music by David Bowie


D                    A                          D
Strikes the bell for five o'clock, Uncle Arthur closes shop,

                   A                                      D
screws the tops on all the bottles, turns the lights out, locks it up.

G                 A              D
Climbs across his bike and he's away-

G                 A                 C6              A
cycles past the gas works, past the river, down the high street,

        G              A           D                D#
back to mother. It's another empty day.

E      D      A                E      D      A
Uncle Arthur- likes his mummy- Uncle Arthur- still reads comics-

E      D      A
Uncle Arthur- follows Bat-man-.

D                   A                        D
Round and round the rumours fly, how he ran away from mum,

              A                                   D
on his thirty-second birthday, told her that he'd found a chum.

G                A                    D
Mother cried and raved and yelled and fussed-

G               A           C6                      A
Arthur left her no illusion brought the girl round, save confusion,

G             A                    D                D#
Sally was the real thing not just lust.

E      D      A                 E      D      A
Uncle Arthur- vanished quickly- Uncle Arthur- and his new bride-

E      D      A
Uncle Arthur- follows Sally-.

E                    B                           E
Round and round goes Arthur's head, hasn't eaten well for days,

             B                                     E
little Sally may be lovely, but cooking leaves her in a maze.

A            B                   E
Uncle Arthur packed his bags and fled.

A               B              Db             B               A
Back to mother, all's forgiven serving in the family shop, he gets

           B                E                                 F-
his pocket money, he's well fed.

F#     E      B                     F#     E      B
Uncle Arthur- passed the gas works- Uncle Arthur- passed the river-

F#     E      B                     F#     E      B                 
Uncle Arthur- down the high street- Uncle Arthur- follows mother-.

 

------------------

This is the main riff (In A, shifts to B at
mid-way point):

E|-9-7-9--12--10-9-7-9---|-9-7-9--12--10-9-7-9-|
B|---------------------10|---------------------|
G|-----------------------|---------------------|
D|-----------------------|---------------------|
A|-0-----------0---------|-0-----------0-------|
E|-----------------------|---------------------|

--------------------------------------               

CHORD LIBRARY
E A D G B E
A
x 0 2 2 2 0
B
x 2 4 4 4 2
C6
x 3 5 5 5 5 
Db
x 4 3 1 2 1
D
x x 0 2 3 2
D#
x x 1 3 4 3
E
0 2 2 1 0 0
F#
2 4 4 3 2 2
G
3 2 0 0 0 3