REVEAL: CHORUS AND THE RING

   Peter has said this was a song that came together fairly easily and the chords bear this out. He claims much of it is live and that's why the chord changes seem to be a bit behind the guitar--giving the song an eerie echo. Michael counts the second verse as one of his favorites and has said the entire song was inspired by two things: a conversation he had with Peter about Deus ex Machina, literally a device used in Greek Theater to bring in a God character with a machine, and a conversation he had with William S. Burroughs about Kurt Cobain. Somewhere out of all of that is tragedy, pity and catharsis, anxiety and climax--always there's a chorus to sing. Some great phrases in here, I've always loved 'that's when the insults start to sting' and 'Hammered, shooting plywood in the backyard.' Super evocative. The first line is a bit of a mystery as I've seen a couple of interpretations, I've leaned toward the name Willy being William S. Burroughs.




CHORUS AND THE RING

Hey there now young Willy swing along, quote the scriptures

Keep them guessing which pit you crawled from
Just defy it, just deny it, was it fun, your time has come
What have you done? What have you done?

That's when the insults start to sting
You can't remember anything
The chorus chime in, the Greek chorus
The machine of god

Singing

It's the poison that in measures brings illuminating vision
It's the knowing with a wink that we expect in southern women
It's the wolf that knows which root to dig to save itself
It's the octopus that crawled back to the sea

That's when the insults start to sting
You can't remember anything
The chorus chime in, the Greek chorus
The machine of god

Ring

Hammered, shooting plywood in the backyard
Laughing 'cause the racket makes the blackbirds sing
Write the holy terror, suck the marrow from the bone

Singe your own wings burning books 

You got the chorus and the ring

That's when the insults start to sting
You can't remember anything
The chorus chime in, the Greek chorus
The machine sings

That's when the insults start to sting
You can't remember anything
The chorus chime in, the Greek chorus
The machine sings

That's when the calibration brittle as a stick 

Gets you the gold ring in the tar museum 

Che Guevera wink gold ring

Gold ring

Sing
Sing
Sing
Sing

   I have been able to find zero live versions of this song, so all of the following is based on the album. I really love playing this song, it's simple and inventive--the verse is similar to the picked chorus of Maps and Legends with some extra notes. Going into deciphering I thought it was going to be very tricky because of how the album sounds. Imagine my relief. I've thrown in the lead under the chorus and bridge which I think might be a keyboard, but at times sounds like a guitar? IDK.

CHORUS AND THE RING

Verse (A-D)

e|-0---5---|

B|-2---0---|

G|-2---7---|

D|-2---7---|

A|-0---0---|

E|-0---0---|

Chorus (D2-Bm7(11))

e|-0---0---|

B|-3---3---|

G|-2---4---|

D|-0---2---|

A|-----0---|

E|-----0---|

Middle 8 (G-D2 x3, Bm7(11))

e|-3---0-----0--|

B|-3---3-----3--|

G|-0---2-----4--|

D|-0---0-----2--|

A|-2---------0--|

E|-3-----x3--0--|

Chorus Lead (Keyboard)

e|-10---------------------10--|

B|-------10-12-10----10-12----|

G|---9-11--------9-11---------|

D|----------------------------|

A|----------------------------|

E|----------------------------|

Middle 8 Lead (Keyboard)

e|-9-10h-10-10---------7-9-10h---------7-9-9-10h--|

B|---------------7-8-10----------7-8-10-----------|

G|------------7-9-------------7-9-----------------|

D|------------------------------------------------|

A|------------------------------------------------|

E|------------------------------------------------|

e|------------------------------------|

B|----7-8-8-8-7-5-0---5-0-5-0---------|

G|-7-9-----------------------2--------|

D|----------------------------------2-|

A|------------------------------------|

E|------------------------------------|

Final Pick

e|---0----5----|

B|----2--------|

G|--2--0-7-7---|

D|-2-----------|

A|-------------|

E|-------------|

End on A