Transcribed by: James Michael Randorff (jrandorff@aol.com) Date: Sunday, February 27, 2000 Album: George Strait -- Straitest Greatest Hits Murder On Music Row -- George Strait and Alan Jackson -- Key Of A Intro GS Verse Nobody saw them running From 16th Ave--nue They never found the fingerprints Or the weapon that was used But some--one killed country music Cut out its heart and soul They got away with murder Down on music row AJ Verse The almight dollar And the lust for worldwide fame Slowly killed tra--dition And for that, someone should hang ("Ahh, you tell 'em Alan") They all say "Not Guilty!" But the evidence will show That murder was com--mitted Down on music row Chorus (Walking bassline first 8 bars, 2/4 beat last 9 bars) For the steel guitars no longer cry And the fiddles barely play But drums and rock 'n' roll guitars Are mixed up in your face Ol' Hank wouldn't have a chance On today's radio Since they committed murder Down on music row Turnaround Split Verse GS: They thought no one would miss it Once it was dead and gone They said no one would buy them ol' Drinkin' and cheatin' songs ("Oh, but I still buy 'em") AJ: Well there ain't no justice in it And the hard facts are cold Murder's been com--mitted Down on music row Chorus (Walking bassline first 8 bars, 2/4 beat last 9 bars) For the steel guitars no longer cry And you can't hear fiddles play With drums and rock 'n' roll guitars Mixed right up in your face Why the Hag wouldn't have a chance On today's radio Since they committed murder Down on music row Tag (Walking bassline) Why they even tell the Possum To pack up and go back home There's been an awful murder Down on music row }} This is the standard charting style that most Nashville session and sit-in musicians use to read songs. It tells you the key of the song, what the chords and chord inversions are, how they fall in the measure structure of the song, and other rhythmic differances, if there are any. It would behoove anyone that is serious about being a musician, especially in Nashville or Branson, to learn to read these kinds of charts! Murder On Music Row -- George Strait -- Key Of A Intro 41511 GS Verse 1114 41155 1114 41511 AJ Verse 1114 41155 1114 41511 Chorus 4 4 1 1 (4/4 walking) 2 2 5 5 1 1 1 4 (2/4 root-fifth) 41511 Turnaround 41511 Split Verse 1114 41155 1114 41511 Chorus 4 4 1 1 (4/4 walking) 2 2 5 5 > 1 1 1 4 (2/4 root-fifth) 41511 Tag 1 1 1 4 (4/4 walking) 4151 Note... the little ">" figure after the second line of the last chorus is my own little notation for "Bucket-a-fish"... it's a common rhythmic figure in old country and western swing when passing from the 5 chord to the 1 chord or the 1 chord to the 4 chord, at the end of a phrase. It is called a "Bucket-a-fish" because of the rhythm of it... it is a triplet ("Buck-et-a") and a quarter note ("fish"), followed by the common quarter-note walkup to the next chord. It is usually played only by the bass and drums, though sometimes other members of the band will play it to make the lick more pronounced. In the key of A, passing from the 5 chord to the 1 chord, the lick would look like this: ECBEFGA /////// ___ ___ 3 Where the E goes down to C#, down to B, down to the next E (the octave below the first E), and then walks up the quarter notes back to the A (1) chord. Not only a musician, but a computer geek as well... check out my site on my bass playing at: http://hometown.aol.com/jrandorff/index.html Good luck with the song, y'all! :)