A cool and educational song by Al Stewart. Laurence Juber does some incredible acoustic
guitar work, unfortunately all I have here are the chords!
Capo: 2
Intro:
C Cm G F x2 (single strum)
C G F C G C x2
CG
I'm here sitting in the wreck of Europe
F
With a map of Europe
CGC
Spread out in a hall of Versailles
CGF
And every single nationality and principality
CGC
have come for a piece of the pie
CG
I'm sitting in the wreck of Europe
F
With a map of Europe
CGC
And the lines and the borders are gone
CG
We've got to do this jigsaw puzzle
F
It's an awful muddle
CGC
But somehow we've got to go on
C7F
**Lawrence of Arabia is waiting in the wings
Fm
He's got some Arab sheikhs and kings
CGC
And we're in debt to them somehow
C7F
Lawrence of Arabia has got this perfect vision
Fm
Gonna sell him down the river
CGC
There's no time for him now
CG
I think I'm gonna take a piece of Russia
F
And a Piece of Germany
CGC
And give them to Poland again
CGF
I'll put together Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia
CGC
And hope that is how they'll remain
CG
Then I'll take a bit of Turkey
F
Then a lot of Turkey
CGC
This is all quite a heady affair
CG
There's Persia and Iraq to pick up
F
And there's Churchill's hiccup
CGC
And we can't leave it up in the air
C7F
Woodrow Wilson waves his fourteen points around
Fm
And says "The time to act is now
CGC
Won't get this opportunity again"
C7F
Woodrow Wilson has his fourteen points
Fm
But Clemenceau turns to Lloyd George
And says "You know that
CGC
God himself had only ten"
CG
Today I'm carried by a league of notions
F
By a league of notions
CGC
I don't think I quite understand
CG
I only know from this commotion
F
There's a chance that we could turn
CGC
The world in the palm of our hands
C7F
Voices in the corridors of power
Fm
Candles burning hour by hour
CGC
Still you know that to the victors go the spoils
C7F
Such a great responsibility to make it fair
Fm
And there must be some reparations now
CGC
And don't forget the oil
CG
Today I'm carried by a league of notions
F
By a league of notions
CGC
I don't think I quite understand
CG
I only know from this commotion
F
There's a chance that we could turn
CGC
The world in the palm of our hands
CG
Pax vobiscum
FCGC
Wo-Oh, Pax vobiscum
(End on C)
**The strumming pattern changes here. Pluck quarter notes on the bass line and single,
percussive strums after each plucked note. Go back to regular strumming at the end of
the phrase (after the Fm, for the C G C)