IT'S ALL RIGHT MA
words and music by Bob Dylan
Transcription contributions from
Paul Zimmerman (IFSXM@asuvm.inre.asu.edu),
John Blair (jwblair@ix.netcom.com), and
Jim Colletti (colletti@mail.sgi.net)
Drop D (DADGBe) or Double drop D (DADGBd) tuning
capo on 2nd fret
DADGBe DADGBd
++++++ ++++++
D: 000232 000230
D/A: x00232 x00230
D/Bb: x1023x x10030
G/B: x20033 x20030
D/C: x3023x x30230
Dm7: 000211 xxx560
Em7: 000433 xxx780
A: x02220 x02222
The bluesy riff played now and then:
D
d-------------------------------------
B-------------------------------------
G-------------------------------------
D-----0------0---3b--0----------------
A-3----------------------3bp0---------
D-----------------------------3b--0---
b= bend up
p= pull off
D Dm7 Em7 Dm7 D
G/B
Darkness at the break of noon
d-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
B-----3---3--3--3----|-----3---3--3--3----|
G-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
D-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
A-2------------------|-2------------------|
D--------------------|--------------------|
D
shadows even the silver spoon
d-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
B-----3---3--3--3----|-----3---3--3--3----|
G-----2---2--2--2----|-----2---2--2--2----|
D-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
A-0------------------|-0------------------|
D--------------------|--------------------|
D/C
The hand made blade, the child's balloon
d-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
B-----3---3--3--3----|-----3---3--3--3----|
G-----2---2--2--2----|-----2---2--2--2----|
D-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
A-3------------------|-3------------------|
D--------------------|--------------------|
G/B
eclipses both the sun and moon
d-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
B-----3---3--3--3----|-----3---3--3--3----|
G-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
D-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
A-2------------------|-2------------------|
D--------------------|--------------------|
D/Bb
To understand you know too soon
d-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
B-----3---3--3--3----|-----3---3--3--3----|
G-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
D-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
A-1------------------|-1------------------|
D--------------------|--------------------|
D
there is no sense in trying
d-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
B-----3---3--3--3----|-----3---3--3--3----|
G-----2---2--2--2----|-----2---2--2--2----|
D-----0---0--0--0----|-----0---0--0--0----|
A-1------------------|-0------------------|
D--------------------|--------------------|
D Dm7 Em7 Dm7 D
Pointed threats they bluff with scorn,
suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece, the hollow horn
Plays wasted words, proves to warn
that he not busy being born
is busy dying
Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover that you just be one more
person crying.
D A D G/B
So don't fear, if you hear, a foreign sound to your ear
D G/B D A D Dm7 Em7 Dm7 D
It's all right ma, I'm only sighing
As some warn victory, some downfall,
private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eys of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
except hatred
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
as human gods aim for their mark
Make everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
that not much is really sacred
While preachers preach of evil fates,
teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred dollar plates,
goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
sometimes must have to stand naked
And though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you've got to dodge
And it's allright ma, I can make it
Advertising signs that con you
into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done,
that can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
all around you
You lose yourself, you reappear
you suddenly find you've got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
when a trembling distant voice unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
that somebody thinks they really found you
A question in your nerves is lit
yet you know there is no answer fit
To satisfy, ensure you not to quit
to keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
that you beling to
Although the masters make the rules
for the wise men and the fools
I've got nothing ma, to live up to
For them that must obey authority
that they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
nothing more than something they invest in
While unprinciples baptize
too strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise,
outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
and say 'God bless him'
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers,
cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
that he's in
But I mean no harm nor put fault
on anyone that lives in a vault
But it's allright ma, if I can't please him
Old lady judges watch people in pairs,
limited in sex they dare
To push fake morals, insultant stares
while money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares,
propaganda all is phony
While them that defend what they cannot see
with a killer's pride, security
It blows the mind most bitterly
for them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
life sometimes must get lonely
My eyes collide head on with stuffed
graveyards, false goals, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough,
walk upside down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off,
say OK I've had enough
What else can you show me
And if my thought dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's allright ma, it's life and life only