This chart will look wacky unless you
rotate your phone

Fires of Edinburgh

Nick Keir

 

Here's a Guitar Pro file with tabs for the arpeggio parts.

I wrote a blog post here about the detective work I had to do to chart this song. Super fun!

 

Capo 1

 

Chord Guide
21  34 G:    320033	1   34 G/F#:  2x0033	12 34 Em7:   022033	2  34 G/C:  x30033
1  34 G/B:  x20033	12 34 Em7/B: x22033	134 Dsus4: xx0233	21 34 Cadd9: x32033

 

D     U   U D U Strum:  1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +

 

 

Intro (w/arpeggios): 

/ G - - - / G/F# - - - / Em7 - - - / G/C - - - / G/B - - - / G/C - - - / - - - - / x2

 

(w/arpeggios)

G (3)

   Along the Canongate an old man wanders

                                  G (½)           G/F# (½)

He mumbles stories of vanished golden age

Em7                                             Em7/B

    When heroes walked along the plainstone canyons

G/C                                             Dsus4

     And drank the claret while the revolution raged

 

G (3)

    Up the Westport there’s a young girl dancing

                                              G (½)        G/F# (½)

She’s flaunting everything and turning men to stone

Em7                                             Em7/B

     Down through Lauriston an old hack stumbles

G/C                                               Dsus4

      She’s roaring drunk and roaring home alone.

 

 

(strum):

G (3)

     Along the Forth I saw a swift tide running

                                    G (½)         G/F# (½)

With news of Darien, the far and promised land

Em7 (2)

   He spent a fortune on a pirate’s gamble

Cadd9                                           Dsus4

   And stumbled homeward with an empty bloodstained hand

 

G (3)

   Down the Cowgate where a great fire thundered

                                              G (½)      G/F# (½)

Through empty catacombs that never can be found

Em7 (2)

     A trail of gunpowder that leads to Mary

 Cadd9                                Dsus4

     The Casket Letters and a troubled crown

 

Chorus

 

    G (3)

I heard a distant drumbeat

                                  G (½)    G/F# (½)

Footsteps scurrying across an   empty square

Em7 (2)

     The mob was shouting for a quick rough justice

Cadd9                                       Dsus4

    The rope was stolen but the price was fair

 

G (3)

   And down below where daylight never ventures

                                        G (½)     G/F# (½)

A small hand touches sleeve as     you pass by

Em7 (2)

    A million souls who live died unnoticed

Cadd9                                    Dsus4

    And now remembered in a young girl’s cry

 

Chorus

  

G (3)

   And even I remember gas lamps hissing

                                                  G (½)    G/F# (½)

The one man band who stumbled down a cobble street

Em7 (2)

    The echo of an old retreating army

Cadd9                                           Dsus4

     The drums of war with one resounding beat

 

G (3)

    The fog that choked the town, the smell of sulfur

                                   G (½)    G/F# (½)

The lonely whistle of a roaring black-night train

Em7 (2)

    The ghosts that pressed against the windows howling

Cadd9                                    Dsus4

    Wait in the shadows to be seen again 

 

Solo:  Play Intro Progression Once

 

(w/arpeggios to end):

G (3)

   Along the Canongate an old man wanders

                                  G (½)           G/F# (½)

He mumbles stories of vanished golden age

Em7                                             Em7/B

    When heroes walked along the plainstone canyons

G/C                                             Dsus4

     And drank the claret while the revolution raged

 

/ G/C - - - / G/B - - - / G/C - - - / - - - - /    End on G

This file is the author's own work and represents his interpretation of this song. It's intended solely for private study, scholarship or research.