#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE----------------------------------#
# This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
# song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
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THE QUEEN AND THE SOLDIER (Suzanne Vega)
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[Actually in D; capo 2.]
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9 Csus9 Gsus4/B Csus9 G
[intro]
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9 Csus9 Gsus4/B Csus9 Csus9
[intro]
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9
The soldier came knocking upon the queen's door
Csus9 Gsus4/B Csus9 G
He said, "I am not fighting for you anymore"
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9
And the queen knew she'd seen his face someplace before
Csus2 Gsus4/B Csus9 Csus9
And slowly she let him inside
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9
He said, "I've watched your palace up here on the hill
Csus9 Gsus4/B Csus9 G
And I've wondered who's the woman for whom we all kill
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9
But I am leaving tomorrow, and you can do what you will
Csus2 Gsus4/B Csus9 Csus9
Only first I am asking you why"
Fsus9 Fsus9 C/E C/E
Down the long narrow hall he was led
D7sus4 D7sus4 D7 Dm7
Into her room with her tapestries red
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9
And she never once took the crown from her head
Csus9 Gsus4/B Csus9 Csus9 Csus9 Csus9
She asked him there to sit down
He said, "I see you now and you are so very young
But I've seen more battles lost than I have battles won
And I've got this intuition says it's all for your fun
And now will you tell me why?"
Well the young queen, she fixed him with an arrogant eye
She said, "You won't understand, and you may as well not try"
But her face was a child's, and he thought she would cry
But she closed herself up like a fan
And she said, "I have swallowed a secret burning thread
It cuts me inside and often I've bled"
And he laid his hand then on the top of her head
Csus9 Gsus4/B Csus9 Csus9
And he bowed her down to the ground
Fsus9 Fsus9 C/E C/E D7sus4 D7sus4 D7 Dm7
["Oooooh" and instrumental]
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9 Csus9 Gsus4/B Csus9 Csus9
["Oooooh" and instrumental]
"Tell me how hungry are you, how weak you must feel
As you are living here alone and you are never revealed
But I won't march again on your battlefield"
And he took her to the window to see
And the sun it was gold, though the sky it was grey
And she wanted more than she ever could say
But she knew how it frightened her and she turned away
And would not look at his face again
He said, "I want to live as an honest man
To get all I deserve and to give all I can
And to love a young woman whom I don't understand
Your highness, your ways are very strange"
But the crown, it had fallen, and she thought she would break
And she stood there ashamed of the way her heart ached
And she took him to the doorstep and she asked him to wait
She would only be a moment inside
Am Am Fsus2 Fsus2
Out in the distance her order was heard
C5 Gsus4/B C5 G
And the soldier was killed still waiting for her word
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9
And while the queen went on strangling in the solitude she preferred
C5 Gsus4/B C5 Gsus4/B
The battle continued on
Fsus9 Fsus9 C/E C/E D7sus4 D7sus4 D7 Dm7
["Oooooh" and instrumental]
Am Am Fsus9 Fsus9 Csus9 Gsus4/B Csus9 Csus9
["Oooooh" and instrumental]
Csus9 Csus9
[repeat and fade]
CHORDS/TAB:
Here's how all the individual chords are played; string these together
to play the whole song. The thumb plays all the notes on the 3 lowest
strings (and the first and fifth notes of each measure).
(In the very last verse, most of the chords are played by plucking the
chord sharply at the beginning of the measure and repeating a bass note on
every eighth note of the measure; see "C5" below. Toward the end of that
verse, it is still sharp chords and bass notes, but the rhythm is different.)
Am: Fsus9: Csus9:
|--0-------0-|--0-------0-| |--3-------3-| |--3-------3-|
|----1-------|----1-------| |----1-------| |----1-------|
|------2-----|2-----2-----| |------0-----| |------0-----|
|--------2---|--------2---| |3-------3---| |--------0---|
|0-----------|------------| |------------| |3-----------|
|------------|------------| |------------| |------------|
Gsus4/B: G: C/E C5
|--3-------3-| |--3-------3-| |--3-------3-| |3x----------|
|----1-------| |----0-------| |----1-------| |1x----------|
|------0-----| |------0-----| |------0-----| |0x----------|
|--------0---| |------------| |2-------2---| |------------|
|2-----------| |--------02--| |------------| |3-3-3-3-3-3-|
|------------| |3-----------| |------------| |------------|
D7sus4: D7: Dm7:
|--3-------3-|--3-------3-| |--2-------2-| |--1-------0-|
|----1-------|----1-------| |----1-------| |----1-------|
|------2-----|2-----2-----| |------2-----| |------2-----|
|0-------0---|--------0---| |0-------0---| |0-------0---|
|------------|------------| |------------| |------------|
|------------|------------| |------------| |------------|
|