John Cale
"He's the only musician I’ll mention if people ask who I play with. There’s only one name. He’s the greatest. He has more of an impact on me than any drummer, more than anyone, in my adult life."

Deantoni Parks

Fear Is A Man's Best Friend (Est. 1999) is the ultimate unofficial John Cale website
Fear Is A Man's Best Friend

John Cale Tabs

Trouble With Classicists

Tabbed by: Henk Stolker <stolker@stolker.nl>

Author:
John Cale & Lou Reed
Album: Songs for Drella (1990)
| | = 1 bar
|....| = 1 bar, 4 counts

| (no chord) A G . | . D/A . . | . A G . | . D/A . . |
| . A G . | . D/A . . | . A G . | . D/A . . |

    | (nc)         A         G   |       D/A     |
The trouble with a classicist he looks at a tree

|          A    G              |      D/A     |
That's all he sees, he paints a tree

   |                A        G   (nc)        |   D    |
The trouble with a classicist he looks at the sky

|              A   G       |         D/A     |
He doesn't ask why, he just paints a sky

| . A G . | . D/A . . | . A G (nc) | . D . . |

The trouble with an impressionist, he looks at a log
And he doesn't know who he is, standing, staring, at this log
And surrealist memories are too amorphous and proud
While those downtown macho painters are just alcoholic

   | A5                          | A5
The trouble with impressionists,

          | A5                          | A5
that's the trouble with impressionists,

          | A5                          | A5
that's the trouble with impressionists,

          | A5                          | A5
that's the trouble with impressionists.

| . A G . | . D/A . . | . A G . | . D/A . . |

| . A G . | . D/A . . | . A G (nc) | . D . . |

The trouble with personalities, they're too wrapped up in style
It's too personal, they're in love with their own guile
They're like illegal aliens trying to make a buck
They're driving gypsy cabs but they're thinking like a truck
The trouble with personalities is
   | A5                            | A5
The trouble with personalities is

| A | (8 bars)
| F#5 | G5 | F#5 | E5 | F#5 | G5 | F#5 | E5 |


I like the druggy downtown kids who spray paint walls and trains
I like their lack of training, their primitive technique
I think sometimes it hurts you when you stay too long in school
I think sometimes it hurts you when you're afraid to be called a fool
The trouble with classicists is
The trouble with classicists is


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