Jesse
Written by Janis Ian
Arranged by Joan Baez
Tablature by Nathan Sitkoff (sitkoff@cs.umass.edu)

No capo; standard tuning

Anybody who knows what key/mode this is please drop me a line. It
looks a bit like C, but feels more like Dm.

I think that this is pretty close to what JB is doing. I definitely
fudged a bit during the verse; there’s some kind of hammer-on during
the E chord which I can’t figure out. As always, comments are
welcome, and if anybody out there can do better please post it.

Note: During the intro, finger the Dm “as usual” with the index,
middle and ring fingers of your left hand. During the verse, use your
index, middle and PINKY so you can use your ring finger to fret the C
in Dm/C. This makes progressing from Dm to Dm/C to G7 easy.

Intro:

E ----0------- ------0----- ----0------- ------0-----
B ------1---1- ----1---1--- ------1---1- ----1-------
G --0-----0--- --0-------0- --0-----0--- --0---------
D ------------ ------------ ------------ 0-----------
A 3----------- 3----------- 2----------- --------2---
E ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ 

[G/Bb]

E ------0----- ------0----- ------0----- --------0---
B ----3---3--- ----3---3--- --------2--- 2---3-------
G --0-------0- --0-------0- ----0-----0- ------------
D ------------ ------------ --2--------- ------------
A 1----------- 1----------- 0----------- ------------
E ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ 

E 1-----1----- 3---1---0h1- 1----------- ------------
B ----3---3--- ------3----- --------0-0- 0---1---3---
G --2-------2- --2--------- ------0----- ------------
D 0----------- ------------ ----0------- ------------
A ------------ ------------ --2--------- ----0---2---
E ------------ ------------ 3----------- 3----------- 

E ----------0- 0----------- ----------0- 0-----------
B 3-----3----- ------3----- 3-----3----- ------3-----
G ----0---0--- ----0---0--- ----0---0--- ----0---0---
D --2--------- --2-------2- --2--------- --2-------2-
A 3----------- 3----------- 3----------- 3-----------
E ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ 

Verse:

E ------0----- ------0----- ------0----- ------0-----
B ----1---1--- ----1---1--- ----1---1--- ----1---1---
G --0-------0- --0-------0- --0-------0- --0-------0-
D ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------
A 3----------- 3----------- 2----------- 2-----------
E ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ 

Jesse come home, there’s a hole in the bed where we

[G/Bb]

E ------0----- ------0----- ------0----- --------0---
B ----3---3--- ----3------- --------2--- 2---3-------
G --0-------0- --0--------- ----0-----0- ------------
D ------------ 0----------- --2--------- ------------
A 1----------- --------1--- 0----------- 0---2---4---
E ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ 

slept; now it’s growing cold.

[Dm/C]

E ------1----- ------1----- ------1----- ------1-----
B ----3---3--- ----3---3--- ----3---3--- ----3---3---
G --2-------2- --2-------2- --2-------2- --2-------2-
D 0----------- 0----------- ------------ ------------
A ------------ ------------ 3----------- 3-----------
E ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ 

Jesse your face in the place where we lay by the

E ------1----- ------------ 0-----0----- 0-----0-----
B ----3---3--- 0---1---3--- ----1---1--- ----0-------
G --0-------0- ------------ --0-------0- --1---------
D ------------ ------------ ------------ 2-----------
A 2----------- ----0---2--- 3----------- --------2---
E ------------ 3----------- ------------ ------------ 

hearth all apart it hangs on my heart

E ------0----- ------0----- ------0----- ------1-----
B ----0---0--- ----2---2--- ----2---2--- ----3---3---
G --1-------1- --2-------2- --2-------2- --2-------2-
D ------------ ------------ 2----------- 0-----------
A ------------ 0----------- ------------ ------------
E 0----------- ------------ ------------ ------------ 

and I’m leaving the light on the stairs

[Dm/C]

E ------1----- ------1----- ------1----- ------0-----
B ----3---3--- ----3---3--- ----3------- ----1-------
G --2-------2- --0-------0- --0--------- --0---------
D ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------
A 3----------- 2----------- --------0-2- 3-------3-2-
E ------------ ------------ 3----------- ------------ 

no I’m not scared; I wait for you

A7 Dm (strum) G7 (strum)

E ------0----- 1----------- 1-----------
B ----2---2--- 3----------- 3-----------
G --0-------0- 2----------- 0-----------
D ------------ 0----------- 0-----------
A 0----------- ------------ 2-----------
E ------------ ------------ 3----------- 

Hey Jessie it’s lonely come

E ----------0- 0----------- ----------0- 0-----------
B 3-----3----- ------3----- 3-----3----- ------3-----
G ----0---0--- ----0---0--- ----0---0--- ----0---0---
D --2--------- --2-------2- --2--------- --2-------2-
A 3----------- 3----------- 3----------- 3-----------
E ------------ ------------ ------------ ------------ 

home

Lyrics:

Jesse come home, there’s a hole in the bed
Where we slept; now it’s growing cold.
Jesse your face, in the place where we lay
By the hearth, all apart, it hangs on my heart

And I’m leaving the light on the stairs
No I’m not scared; I wait for you
Hey Jesse, it’s lonely, come home.

Jesse the stairs in the halls, recalling
Your step; and I remember too.
All the pictures are shaded and fading in grey
And I still set a place on the table at noon

And I’m leaving the light on the stairs
No I’m not scared; I wait for you
Hey Jesse, it’s lonely, come home.

Jesse the spread on the bed,
It’s like when you left, I kept it for you.
All the blues and the greens have been recently cleaned
And are seemingly new; hey Jess, me and you.

We’ll swallow the light on the stairs
I’ll fix up my hair, we’ll sleep unawares
Hey Jesse, it’s lonely, come home

I courted lovely Flora
Some pleasure there to find
She turned unto another man
Which sore distressed my mind
She robbed me of my liberty
Deprived me of my rest
Still I love my faithless Flora
The Lily Of The West

Down in yonder shady grove
A man of lowly breed
Conversing with my Flora there
It seemed so strange to me
And the answer that she gave to him
It sure did me oppress
I was betrayed by Flora
The Lily Of The West

I stepped up to my rival
My dagger in my hand
I grabbed him by the collar and
I boldly made him stand
Being mad to desperation
I pierced him in the breast
All for my lovely Flora
The Lily Of The West

I had to stand my trial
I had to make my plea
They placed me in the criminal box
And then commenced on me
Although she swore my life away
Deprived me of my rest
And I (still) love my faithless Flora
The Lily Of The West

It was true that ever since the day
her crazy man had passed away
to the land of poet’s pride,
she laughed and talked a lot
with new people on the block
but always at evening time she cried.

And here’s to the dawn of their days.

She moved her head
a little down on the bed
until it rested softly on his knee.
And there she dropped her smile
and there she sighed awhile,
and told him all the sadness
of those years that numbered three.

Well you know I think my fate’s belated
because of all the hours I waited
for the day when I’d no longer cry.
I get myself to work by eight
but oh, was I born too late,
and do you think I’ll fail
at every single thing I try?

And here’s to the dawn of their days.

He just put his arm around her
and that’s the way I found her
eight months later to the day.
The lines of a smile erased
the tear tracks upon her face,
a smile could linger, even stay.

Sweet Sir Galahad went down
with his gay bride of flowers,
the prince of the hours
of her lifetime.

And here’s to the dawn of their days,
of their days.

Lara didid didi di
Lam
Lara laaaaa
Lara laaaaa
Lara Lara laaaaa
Lara laaaaa
Laaa

Seems like only yesterday
I left my mind behind
Down in the Gypsy Cafe
With a friend of a friend of mine
She sat with a baby heavy on her knee
Yet spoke of life most free from slavery
With eyes that showed no trace of misery
A phrase in connection first with she
I heard
That love is just a four-letter word

Outside a rambling store-front window
Cats meowed to the break of day
Me, I kept my mouth shut, too
To you I had no words to say
My experience was limited and underfed
You were talking while I hid
To the one who was the father of your kid
You probably didn’t think I did, but I heard
You say that love is just a four-letter word

I said goodbye unnoticed
Pushed towards things in my own games
Drifting in and out of lifetimes
Unmentionable by name
Searching for my double, looking for
Complete evaporation to the core
Though I tried and failed at finding any door
I must have thought that there was nothing more
Absurd than that love is just a four-letter word

Though I never knew just what you meant
When you were speaking to your man
I can only think in terms of me
And now I understand
After waking enough times to think I see
The Holy Kiss that’s supposed to last eternity
Blow up in smoke, its destiny
Falls on strangers, travels free
Yes, I know now, traps are only set by me
And I do not really need to be
Assured that love is just a four-letter word

Capo 2

Go away from my window
Go away from my door

Go away-way-way from my bedside
And bother me no more

And bother me no more

I’ll go tell all of my brothers
I’ll go tell my sisters too
The reason that my heart is broke
Is on account of you
Is on account of you

I’ll give you back your presents
You give me back my ring
And I won’t forget my own true love
As long as song birds sing
As long as song birds sing

Go away from my window
Go away from my door
Go away-way-way from my bedside
And bother me no more
And bother me no more

In an Arizona jail there are some who tell the tale, how
Billy fought the sergeant for some milk that he demanded
Knowing they’d remain the boss
Knowing he would pay the cost
They saw he was severely reprimanded

In the blackest cell on A Block
He hanged himself at dawn
With a note stuck to the bunk head
Don’t mess with me, just take me home

Come and lay, help us lay
young Billy down

Luna was a Mexican the law calls an alien
For coming across the border with a baby and a wife
Though the clothes upon his back were wet
Still he thought that he could get
Some money and things to start a life

It hadn’t been too very long when it seemed like everything went wrong
They didn’t even have the time to find themselves a home
This foreigner, a brown-skin male
Thrown inside a Texas jail
It left the wife and baby quite alone

He eased the pain inside him
With a needle in his arm
But the dope just crucified him
He died to no one’s great alarm

Come and lay, help us lay
Young Luna down
And we’re gonna raze, raze the prisons
To the ground

Kilowatt was an aging con of 65 who stood a chance to stay alive
And leave the joint and walk the streets again
As the time he was to leave drew near
He suffered all the joy and fear
Of leaving 35 years in the pen

And on the day of his release he was approached by the police
Who took him to the warden walking slowly by his side
The warden said “You won’t remain here
But it seems a state retainer
Claims another 10 years of your life.”

He stepped out in the Texas sunlight
The cops all stood around
Old Kilowatt ran 50 yards
Then threw himself down on the ground

They might as well just have laid
The old man down
And we’re gonna raze, raze the prisons
To the ground
Help us raze, raze the prisons
To the ground