This song was originally released in 1972....don't know how well it did on the American side of the pond, but made top 10 over here in the UK....then it gained a certain notoriety due to its use in a certain scene in Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs"........
Anyway, it's one of those songs thats pretty easy to work out, apart from the intro riff....had me baffled for years...till a friend in the pub tonight A) told me it's in open D tuning and B) showed me the chords.....I could kick myself, ain't it easy when you know how.....!!!!!
There's one (In my opinion, VERY!!!) awkward chord change from a D to an Am7 at the end of the chorus....but apart from that, it's pretty easy....
(Voice from offstage - "So stop waffling and get on with it, man!!!")
So without further ado.....I'll stop waffling and get on with it....
Stuck In The Middle With You - Stealers Wheel
Open D tuning....if your weapon of choice is in standard (E A D G B E) tuning, you need to tune to D A D Gb A D....
There are two different voicings of the D chord, for convenience I'll call them D and Dx.....
Chords Used.....
D A D Gb A D
D 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dx 0 0 0 8 9 0
D9 0 0 0 6 7 0
D6 0 0 0 5 5 0
D7 0 0 0 3 3 0
D4/6 0 0 0 1 2 0
G7 5 5 5 5 8 5
A7 7 7 7 7 10 7
C 10 10 10 10 10 10
G 5 5 5 5 5 5
Am7 x 0 5 6 7 7
INTRO....(Keep your strumming in a steady rhythm, starting with an upstroke....roughly about 120 pm.....)
u d u d u d u d u d u d u d u d u d d
Dx Dx Dx D9 D6 D7 D4/6 D4/6 D4/6 D4/6 D7
(On the downstrokes after the 3rd Dx chord, slide down to the next chord, until you come to the four D4/6 chords...on the three downstrokes in between these chords, either palm-mute the whole chord...if you can...or mute the two strings you're holding down, which is easier...just lift them up slightly so's they're not touching the fretboard....then on the last change, slide up from the D4/6 to the D7 without playing the downstroke and then hit the D7 with a downstroke...loudly!!!
Pause briefly and repeat.....
Then there are three measures of the D chord played like this.....(m=mute, do this by laying the 3rd finger of your frtting hand lightly
across all the strings....) (whilst still keeping the same steady rhythm, u/d/u/d/u/d...!!!)
u d u m u m u m
D D D D D D D D
This pattern is repeated all the way through the verses and all through the chorus until the very end (I'll point out the change when I come to it....)
Phew!!! That's the hardest part out of the way, I've really sweated over that strum pattern!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Right...on with the song.....
VERSE 1
(D) Well I don't know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so (G7)scared... in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm (D)wonderin' how I'll get down the stairs,
(A7)Clowns to the left of me,(C)jokers to the (G)right,
Here I (D)am, stuck in the middle with you.
VERSE 2...same chord change pattern....
(D)Yes I'm Stuck in the middle with you,
And I'm wondering what it is I should do,
It's so (G7)hard to keep this smile from my face,
Losing con(D)trol, yeah, I'm all over the place,
(A7)Clowns to the left of me,(C)jokers to the (G)right,
Here I (D)am, stuck in the middle with you.
CHORUS....
(D)Well you (G7)started off with nothing,
And you're proud that you're a self-made man,
(D)And your (G)friends they all come crawling,
Slap you on the back and say, "(D)Please.....(Am7)please...."
(This is where the strumming pattern changes....as you hit the D
chord...with a hard downstroke, just as you start singing "please".... sing "please" for a full measure with four hard downstrokes, then sing it again for another four, this time with four hard downstrokes
on the Am7 chord....then repeat the three measures of the D chord you played just before the 1s verse.....then back to the normal pattern
for the third verse....)
VERSE 3
(D)Trying to make some sense of it all,
But I can see it makes no sense at all,
Is it (G7)cool to go to sleep on the floor?
Yeah, don't (D)think that I can take anymore,
(A7)Clowns to the left of me,(C)jokers to the (G)right,
Here I (D)am, stuck in the middle with you.
The instrumental break comes here...you know, the pedal-steel thingie...
The chords are exactly the same as for the verses....
Then repeat the chorus....
Then the three measures of the D chord.....
Then repeat the first verse......
Then, keeping the D chord on, it finishes like this (same strum pattern as verses....)
CODA....
(D)Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you,
Stuck in the middle with you,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.....D/D (Two hard downstrokes, let the second one ring......)
Phew....that was bloody hard work!!!! I started this just before midnight, when I got back from the pub...
It's now 3.45 am.....
Still, it was worth it!!!
I've learned something new tonight, thought it my sacred duty to share it with you all...
Hope you all enjoy learning this as much as I enjoyed the absolute BUZZ! I got when I realised I could play it...
Couldn't have played it a year ago, and as for tabbing it....HAH!!!!
Just shows you how much I've learned from Guitarnoise......
Sorry if I'm rambling again, but I did get through a few cans of lager whilst doing this....
Enjoy......
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
I remember this one well, i was in 9th grade, about 14 years old :D :D Nice tune, I'll check it out. lots of old songs use open tunings :D I like to write in open G and D myself. Nice job!--the dog
One of my favorites, thank you.
You don't happen to have "I hear you knockin' " too, do you?
Nick - if you mean the Dave Edmunds version from about 1970....
It's not one I've ever worked out, but I think there are two guitars on that - both in an open tuning....I'll see if I can find out for you.
Vic.
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
yep, that one.
Anyway, I saw your tab of "stuck in the middle" this morning, grabbed my guitar and recorded.
There is no intro, I just wanted to record a strumming pattern for people to hear if they couldn't figure it out.
I'm using a slightly different pattern than Vic has written, but it's close enough for me. I changed mine to add a second palm mute so I could kind of capture the clap track.
I do have a solution for the weird Am7 at the end of the chorus
You just finished playing G, 555555 and you have the next two chords as 000000 and then the Am7 x05677
555555
000000
x05677
Try it this way since your hand is already at 555555
555555
x07897
x05677
That way your hand stays in the same place. You are already barring the 5th fret, so leave that index finger down, slide it up to 7, put your middle down on 8 and your ring on 9. For the next chord, slide that shape down to 5 and add your pinky on 7. That's the way I play it in this recording.
http://home.comcast.net/~wandoctor/thanks_vic.mp3
And Muchas Gracias to David for teaching me the value of palm muting in Horse with no name and It's too Late. :D
Brilliant Vic,
I've trying to play this one on and off for months now, your late night /early morning lager induced efforts are so good. I might be able to crack this song now.
Things are really getting good on the ESD what with you and Matt providing such detailed chords & tabs. Wish I was as clever as you guy's.
Keep on rocking!
All the best,
Chris.
The guitar is all right John but you'll never make a living out of it! (John Lennon's Aunt Mimi)
Nice job Vic, and from someone who knows (only too well) how time consuming it is to put it down with this level of detail, a big well done and thanks!
Great tune well presented
All the best
Matt
Chris - only thing is, Vic get's all his chords right first time....mine take at least 2 reposts! doh!
Matt - what makes you thing I think I didn't have to hit the "preview" button about 137 times?
And I'm still not happy about the Am7 chord, but I suppose you could always substitute a C chord.......
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Did you try this?
Try it this way since your hand is already at 555555
555555
x07897
x05677
I think that's the way it is on the recording anyway. You would be playing a D/A to Am7 and it's an easy switch.
Thanks Vic! Great tune. A good strumming challenge and sounds great in Open D. Thanks Nick for the mp3, helped in figuring out the strum pattern.
Just a suggestion for any beginners out there. You can also play this in dropped D (DADGBE) instead of Open D (DADF#AD). Use the standard chord shapes from standard tuning, but keep the D in the bass on all. On the G, G7 don't finger the 6th string. Keep the same strumming pattern per Vic's suggestions or Nicks. I fooled around with the dropped D version last night and it didn't sound too bad. I didn't have time to figure out the intro though. I tryed it in standard tuning as well but it loses something without that droning low D, imho. Just FYI. Keep pickin!
AHA!!!! Found a nice easy way to play the Am7 after a bit (well a lot!!!) of fiddling around.....
D....A...D..F#.A...D
10 12 10 10 10 10
C....A...C..E...G...C
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Vic
Great song; thanks!
By the way, I have a copy of Total Guitar (#130, Dec 2004) where they tab it out in standard tuning just using the open chord shapes: D, G7, A, C, G, D7, & A7. They suggest using your picking hand to do the strum pattern muting. Their CD recording sounds correct although I don't have the original to compare it to (and drums and bass help fill out the sound on their recording).
The opening is tabbed as (in standard tuning - Daad9, D9, D6/9, D9):
--0-|--0--0---0--0---0-|-0--0---0--0---0-|
--0-|--7--7---5--3---1-|-1--1---0--1---0-|
--0-|--7--7---5--4---2-|-2--2---0--2---0-|
--0-|--0--0---0--0---0-|-0--0---0--0---0-|
----|--0--0---0--0---0-|-0--0------0------|
----|--------------------|--------------------|
Sounds like either tuning will work but the strumming pattern is important to get correct.
Cheers
"The details of my life are quite inconsequential." - Dr. Evil
Hey there,
I just did a search on this song, because I am looking for help doing the slide part on the guitar. I am not sure, really, if this is a regular slide guitar or a pedal steel guitar. Has anyone done the riffs and instrumental with a slide on a regular guitar, and, if so, do you have it tabbed out? If not, is it doable on a dobro?
Thanks.
MoGal
Whem we've done this in the pub, I've tuned to open D and play the intro and the rhythm guitar. One of the lads also tunes to open D and plays acoustic slide (he does plug it into an amp though....) while everyone else plays in standard. The slide parts sound fine in open D - he never plays it exactly the same way twice, but it always sounds pretty close.
I don't know about a dobro - don't even know how you normally tune one, so I can't help you there. But it's definitely do-able in open D.....!
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Hey, thanks! I will try that.
MoGal
