Rockin The Suburbs

...ROCKIN' THE SUBURBS... by Ben Folds (2001)

...........................................

*ROCKIN' THE SUBURBS*

>1. ANNIE WAITS

>3. STILL FIGHTING IT

>4. GONE

>5. FRED JONES PRT. 2

>6. THE ASCENT OF STAN

>7. LOSING LISA

>9. NOT THE SAME

>10.ROCKIN' THE SUBURBS

>11.FIRED

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1...ANNIE WAITS... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

(modified from bec's original tab: benfolds_five@hotmail.com)

Intro:

Verse 1:

And so, Annie waits, Annie waits, Annie waits,

For a call from a friend.

The same, it's the same, why's it always the same?

Annie waits for the last...time.

Interlude:

Verse 2:

The clock, never stops, never stops, never waits.

She's growing old, it's getting late and so.

He for-got, he forgot, but maybe not.

Maybe he's been serious-ly hurt?

Would that be worse?

Bridge 1:

Headlights crest the hill, shadows pass her by and out of sight.

Whoo-oo.

Annie sees in dreams, friday bingo, pigeons in the park.

Chorus 1:

Annie waits, for the last time.

Just the same, as the last time.

Middle 8:

Annie says; you see? This is why I'd rather be... a-lone.

Verse 3:

And so, Annie waits, Annie waits, Annie waits,

For a call from a friend.

The same, it's the same, why's it always the same?

Annie waits, as the last...

Bridge 2:

Headlights crest the hill, shadows pass her by and out of sight.

Whoo-oo.

Annie, I could be, if we're both still lonely, when we're old.

Chorus 2:

Annie waits, for the last time.

Just the same, as the last time.

Annie waits, for the last time.

Just the same, as the last time.

Coda:

Annie waits...

(n.C) C

But not for me.

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

2...ZAK & SARA... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

(Original Key: F)

Intro:

Verse 1:

Sara spelled without an 'h' was getting bored,

On a Peavey amp from nineteen eighty four.

While Zak without a 'c' tried out some new guitars,

Playing Sara with no 'h's favorite song.

Chorus 1:

La la laaa, la la laaa, la la laaa.

La la laaa, la la laaa, la la laaa.

Zak and Sara.

Interlude:

Verse 2:

Often Sara would have spells where she lost time,

She saw the future, she heard voices from in-side.

The kind of voices she would soon learn to deny,

Because at home they got her smacked.

Chorus 2:

La la laaa, la la laaa, la la laaa.

La la laaa, la la laaa, la la laaa.

Zak and Sara.

Bridge 1:

Zak and Sara.

Break:

Zak called his Dad about lay away plans,

Sara told the friendly salesman,

That you'll all die in your cars.

And why's it gotta be dark?

And you're all workin' in a submarine.

Interlude:

Verse 3:

She saw the light, she saw a pale English face,

Some strange ma-chines repeating beats,

And thumping bass.

Pitchers of pills that put you in a loving trance,

That make it possible for all white boys to dance.

And when Zak finished Sara's song, Sara clapped.

Chorus 3:

La la laaa, la la laaa, la la laaa.

La la laaa, la la laaa, la la laaa.

Zak and Sara.

Bridge 2:

Zak and Sara.

Outro:

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

3...STILL FIGHTING IT... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

Verse 1:

Good morning son, I am a bird,

Wearing a brown polyester shirt.

You want a Coke? Maybe some fries?

The roast beef combo's only $9.9-5,

But it's okay; you don't have to pay,

I've got all the change.

Chorus 1:

Everybody knows it hurts to grow up, but everybody does.

It's so weird to be back here,

Let me tell you what; the years go on, and,

We're still fighting it, we're still fighting it.

And you're so much like me; I'm sorry.

Verse 2:

Good morning son; twenty years from now,

Maybe we'll both sit down and have a few beers.

And I can tell you about to-day,

And how I picked you up and everything changed.

It was pain, sunny days and rain,

I knew you'd feel the same things.

Chorus 2:

Everybody knows it hurts to grow up, but everybody does.

It's so weird to be back here,

Let me tell you what; the years go on, and,

We're still fighting it, we're still fighting it.

You'll try and try, and one day you'll fly,

A-way from me.

Interlude:

C Fmaj7, C Fmaj7

Bridge 1:

(Good morning son), (good morning son),

(Good morning son), (good morning son).

Good morning son, I am a bird,

(Good morning son).

It was pain, sunny days and rain,

I knew you'd feel the same things.

Chorus 3:

Everybody knows it hurts to grow up, but everybody does.

It's so weird to be back here,

Let me tell you what; the years go on, and,

We're still fighting it, we're still fighting it.

And you're so much like me; I'm sorry.

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

4...GONE... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

(modified from bec's original tab: benfolds_five@hotmail.com)

Intro:

Verse 1:

I thought I'd write, I thought I'd let you know,

It's been years since you've been gone; I've finally let you go.

And I hope you find some time to drop a note,

But if you won't, then you won't.

Chorus 1:

And I...

Will con-sider you gone.

Verse 2:

I know that you went straight to someone else,

While I worked through all this shit here by my-self.

And I think that you should spend some time a-lone.

But if you won't, then you won't.

Chorus 2:

And I... will,

Then I... will con-sider you gone.

Interlude:

Break:

I wake up, in the night all a-lone, and it's al-right.

The chemi-cals, are wearing off, since you've gone, gone...

Verse 3:

The days go on, the lights go off and on,

And nothing really matters when you're gone.

If you think that you feel nothing at all,

If you don't, then you don't.

If you won't, then you won't.

Chorus 3:

And I... will,

Then I... will,

Then I... will con-sider you gone.

Outro:

Dm Bbm C#maj7, F

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

5...FRED JONES PRT.2... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

(modified from 'nickhgill's' original tab)

Intro:

Verse 1:

Fred sits a-lone at his desk in the dark,

There's an awkward young shadow that waits in the hall.

He's cleared all his things and he's put them in boxes,

Things that remind him: 'life has been good'.

Twenty-five years, he's worked at the paper,

A man's here to take him down-stairs.

Chorus 1:

And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones; it's... time.

Interlude:

Verse 2:

There was no party, there were no songs,

'Cos to-day's just a day like the day that he started.

No-one is left here that knows his first name,

And life barrels on like a runaway train,

Where the passengers change, they don't change anything,

You get off; someone else can get on.

Chorus 2:

And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones; it's... time.

Interlude:

Bridge 1:

Streetlight shines through the shades,

Casting lines on the floor and lines on his face;

He re-flects on the day.

Interlude:

Am Em (x2) F Em,

Am Em, F Em, D, C D

Verse 3:

Fred gets his paints out and goes to the basement,

Pro-jecting some slides, onto a plain white,

Canvas and traces it, fills in the spaces.

He turns off the slides and it doesn't look right,

Yeah, and all of these bastards have taken his place,

He's forgotten but not yet gone.

Chorus 3:

And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones;

And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones;

And I'm sorry, Mr. Jones; it's... time.

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

6...THE ASCENT OF STAN... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

(Original Key: Gm)

Intro:

Verse 1:

Pangs, of silence, from the room upstairs.

Hows the view there?

Do you read what they're saying about you?

Verse 2:

That you're no fun, since the war was won.

In fact, you have become,

All of the things you've always... run away from.

Chorus 1:

The ascent of Stan; textbook hippie man.

Get rest while you can.

Verse 3:

So where'd the years go? All the time we had?

Being poor was, not such a drag in hindsight.

And you wonder, why your father was so re-signed.

Now you don't wonder, any-more.

Chorus 2:

The ascent of Stan; textbook hippie man.

Textbook hippie man, get rest while you can.

Bridge 1:

(Sta...n); once you wanted revo-lution,

(Sta...n); now you're the institution.

(Sta...n):

How's it feel to be the man?

It's no fun to be the man.

Interlude:

Break:

La...da da, da da, da da, da da da.

La da da da da, da da, la...

And now watch it all go down.

Chorus 3:

The ascent of Stan; textbook hippie man.

(Stan), textbook hippie man.

A7 (C)

Get rest while you can.

Bridge 2:

(Sta...n); once you wanted revo-lution,

(Sta...n); now you're the institution.

(Sta...n):

How's it feel to be the man?

It's no fun to be the man.

Coda:

It's no fun to be the man.

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

7...LOSING LISA... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

Intro:

Verse 1:

The lights are off again, she took me by suprise.

She's so sensitive, this shit just happens sometimes.

She's my everything; she's my best friend and more.

We don't do anything, we didn't do the day...

Bridge 1:

Be-fore you go, you oughta know,

That I didn't mean to hurt you; I just wanted you to know.

Chorus 1:

Black tears are falling down her face and I am wrong.

Black tears are falling and she won't say what I've done.

She's sitting here beside me, then she is gone.

Black tears are falling, falling.

Verse 2:

Remember long ago; together laughing, loving.

Oh so long ago, when we were buying something.

Life was simple then; but she's not happy now.

And I...don't feel anything, her lips are moving.

Bridge 2:

I am mesmerised, by tiny lies,

I'm watching as the shapes are drawing slowly from her eyes.

Chorus 2:

Black tears are falling down her face and I am wrong.

Black tears are falling and she won't say what I've done.

She's sitting here beside me, then she is gone.

Black tears are falling, falling,

Black tears are falling, falling.

Break:

Am7 Dsus4, D

Losing Lisa,

Am7 Dsus4, D

Losing Lisa.

Losing Lisa, and there's nothing I can do.

Piano Solo:

Outro:

Black tears are falling, falling. (Ooh, ooh).

Black tears are falling, falling. (Ooh, ooh).

Black tears are falling, falling. (Ooh, ooh).

Black tears are falling, falling. (Ooh, ooh).

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2004 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

8...CARRYING CATHY... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

(Original Key: F#)

Intro:

D G, D G, C F, C F

D G, D G, C F, C, Bbmaj7,

Verse 1:

Her window was hung like a painting,

She worried it might come to life.

She stared for hours.

So obsessed was I, and self-absorbed that I,

Didn't see that she was, cry-ing.

Chorus 1:

There was always someone carrying,

There was always someone carrying,

Always someone's carrying Cathy.

Interlude:

D G, D G, C F, C (x2)

Verse 2:

There were times when I'd find myself saying that;

"Friends, you don't understand",

And she's different, when it's just me and her.

And I closed the door and I tried to hang on,

And she sank into the dark. I was over my head.

Chorus 2:

There was always someone carrying,

There was always someone carrying,

Always someone's carrying Cathy.

Interlude:

D G, D G, C F, C

Bridge 1:

We gave you everything; you could have been anything.

We gave you everything; you could have done anything.

But to i-magine a fall, with no one at all to catch you.

Chorus 3:

There'd always been someone...

Then one night, she climbed into the picture frame.

Out in the frozen air, and out, of sight.

Verse 3:

Woke up sad from this dream I've been having,

The last couple nights or so.

With her father and brothers, we're all at the funeral,

Carrying a box through the rain.

Then somebody says that it's always been this way.

Chorus 4:

There was always someone carrying,

There was always someone carrying,

Always someone's carrying...

Always someone's carrying... Cathy.

Outro:

D G, D G, C F, D

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

9...NOT THE SAME... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

Intro:

C,

Verse 1:

You took a trip and climbed a tree,

At Robert Sledge's party.

And there you stayed, 'till morning came,

And you were not the same after that.

Verse 2:

You gave your life, to Jesus Christ,

And after all your friends went home.

You came back down, you looked around,

And you were not the same after that.

Bridge 1:

Aaah, aaah,

You were not the same after that.

Aaah, aaah,

You were not the same after that.

Chorus 1:

You see them drop like flies, from the bright sunny skies,

They come knocking at your door, with this look in their eyes.

You got one good trick, and you're hangin' on, you're hangin' on to it.

Interlude:

Verse 2:

You took the word and made it heard,

And eased the people's pain.

And for that you were idolised, im-mortalised.

You were not the same after that.

Bridge 2:

Walking tall, you'd bought it all,

You were not the same after that.

'Till someone died, on the water slide,

You were not the same after that.

Chorus 2:

You see them drop like flies, from the bright sunny skies,

They come knocking at your door, with this look in their eyes.

You got one good trick, and you're hangin' on, you're hangin' on to it.

Bridge 3:

Ooh ooh ooh,

(You were not the same),

Ooh ooh ooh.

Chorus 3:

You see them drop like flies, from the bright sunny skies,

They come knocking at your door, with this look in their eyes.

You got one good trick, and you're hangin' on, you're hangin' on, you're hangin' on.

Coda:

(You see them drop like flies),

You're hangin' on,

You're hangin' on,

You're hangin' on.

Outro:

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

10...ROCKIN' THE SUBURBS... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

Intro:

*Riff:

Break:

D, F

Verse 1:

Lemme tell ya'll what it's like,

Being male, middle class and white.

Its a bitch, if you don't believe;

Listen up to my new CD. (Shamon!)

Interlude: (with Riff)

Verse 2:

I got shit running through my brain,

So intense that I can't explain.

All alone in my white boy pain,

Shake your booty while the band complains.

Interlude: (with Riff)

Chorus 1:

I'm rocking the suburbs, just like Michael Jackson did,

I'm rocking the suburbs, except that he was talen-ted.

I'm rocking the suburbs; take the cheques and face the facts,

That some pro-ducer with computers, fixes all my shitty tracks.

Interlude: (with Riff)

Verse 3:

I'm pissed off but I'm too polite,

When people break in the Mc-Donald's line.

Mom and dad, you made me so uptight;

Gonna cuss on the mic tonight.

Bridge 1:

Dunno how much I can take,

Girl, give me something I can break.

Chorus 2:

I'm rocking the suburbs, just like Quiet Riot did,

I'm rocking the suburbs, except that they were talen-ted,

I'm rocking the suburbs; take the cheques and face the facts,

That some pro-ducer with computers, fixes all my shitty tracks.

Middle 8:

(with Middle 8 Riff):

In a haze these days, I pull up to the stoplight:

I can feel that somethings not right,

I can feel someone's blasting me with hate and bass,

Sending dirty thoughts my way.

'Cos my great-great-great-great-grand dad,

Was someone's great-great-great-great-granddady's slaves.

It wasn't my i-dea, it wasn't my i-dea, never was my idea.

Bridge 2:

Just go to the store, for some Prepiration-H...

Break:

Ya'll don't know what it's like,

Being male, middle class and white.

Ya'll don't know what it's like,

Being male, middle class and white.

Ya'll don't know what it's like,

Being male, middle class and white.

Ya'll don't know what it's like,

Being male, middle class and white.

It gets me real pissed off, and it makes me wanna say...

It gets me real pissed off, and it makes me wanna say...

It gets me real pissed off, and it makes me wanna say...

F (n.C)

FUCK!!

Chorus 3:

Just like John Bon Jovi did.

I'm rocking the suburbs, except that he was talen-ted.

I'm rocking the suburbs; take the cheques and face the facts,

That some pro-ducer with computers, fixes all my shitty tracks.

Coda:

These days... yeah, yeah,

I'm rocking the suburbs... yeah, yeah.

I'm rocking the suburbs... yeah, yeah.

Break:

D, F (let ring)

Coda:

(F)

You better watch out, because I'm gonna say fuck,

You better watch out, because I'm gonna say fuck.

You better watch out, because I'm gonna say fuck,

You better watch out, because I'm gonna say fuck.

Outro:

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Tabbed by antz & Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2005 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

11...FIRED... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

Intro:

Verse 1.

Lu-cretia walks in-to a room,

Be-cause she does it's not the same room.

The one she wanted to be in, she says;

"Every-where I go, damn, there I am".

Chorus 1:

And I just wanna walk a-way,

Won't you let me walk a-way some-times?

Won't you let me walk a-way?

Everyone one of you is fired.

Interlude:

Verse 2

I'm just an ordi-nary guy,

And all I want is to be loved; is that so wrong?

Don't think that I don't know,

What you're saying a-bout me;

I hear it all through these thin walls.

Chorus 2:

And I just wanna walk a-way,

Won't you let me walk a-way some-times?

And I just wanna walk a-way.

Bridge 1:

Every one of you is fired,

Every one of you is oh oh oh oh,

Every one of you is fired.

Solo:

Chorus 3:

And I just wanna walk a-way,

Won't you let me walk a-way this time?

'Cos I just wanna walk a-way.

Bridge 2:

Every one of you is fired,

Every one of you is, oh oh oh oh.

Every one of you is fired,

Every one of you is, oh oh oh oh.

Fmaj7 Cmaj7, Fmaj7, Dm7 G7

Fired...

Outro:

C E7 Am7 F (x3) Fmaj7,

Motherfucker!...

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

12...THE LUCKIEST... by Ben Folds

*from 'Rockin' The Suburbs' (2001)*

(modified from mags2001'S original tab: benfolds_five@hotmail.com)

Intro:

Verse 1:

I don't get many things right the first time,

In fact I am told that a lot.

Now I know all the wrong turns,

The stumbles and falls brought me here.

Chorus 1:

And where was I,

Before the day that I first saw your lovely face?

Now I see it every day.

And I know, that;

I Am, I Am, I Am,

The luckiest.

Interlude:

Verse 2:

What if I'd been born, 50 years be-fore you,

In a house on the street, where you live?

Maybe I'd be outside,

As you pass on your bike; would I know?

Chorus 2:

And in a wide sea of eyes,

I'd see one pair that I'd recog-nise.

And I know, that;

I Am, I Am, I Am,

The luckiest.

Bridge 1:

I love you more than I have ever found a way to say to you.

Verse 3:

Next door there's an old man, who lived to his 90's,

And one day passed a-way in his sleep.

And his wife, she stayed,

For a couple of days, and passed a-way.

Chorus 3:

I'm sorry, I know,

That's a strange way to tell you,

That I know we be-long.

That I know, that;

I Am, I Am, I Am,

The luckiest.

Outro:

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Tabbed by Joel from cLuMsY, Bristol, England, 2006 (clumsyband@hotmail.com)

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