The Police: Canary in a Coalmine
Zenyatta Mondatta (A&M Records)
1980
Bass Performance by Sting
Transcribed by Andrew Martin(Sir12_8@hotmail.com)
Main Riff:
e s s s s e q e e 4 e s s s s e q q e s s s s e q e e
+-----r----------------|---r-------------|---r---------------+
|4:-2-e-2-2-2-4-------*|---e-------------|---e---------4-----|
|4:---s---------4-2-4-*|---s---------7---|---s-----------2-4-|
+-----t----------------|-5-t-5-5-5-5---5-|-2-t-2-2-2-2-------+
e s s s s e q e e 2
+---r----------------+ The repeats vary sometimes, play with the song,
|-2-e-2-2-2-4-------*| it isn't hard to figure out.
|---s---------4-2-4-*|
+---t----------------+
Other Part
e s s s s e q e e 2 w +w
+-----r----------------|---|---+
|4:-2-e-2-2-2-4-------*|---|---|
|4:---s---------4-2-4-*|---|---|
+-----t----------------|-5-|-5-+
Notes:
It's played on a fretless, but sounds good either way.
Tab Discussion, Comments, and Critiques
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Mike Average |
#1 by Mike at May 19, 1974 at 2:26 AM EST |
| These are the 'serious classics' - but the hidden gem of the record is the hilarious lightweight ska excourse 'Canary In A Coalmine', where the boys speed up the standard tempo and come out with something lovely, irresistible and tremendously funny. For my money, Andy Summers' guitar never sounded that playful and amusing again, and I would be hard pressed to find any analogy in the rock world. [George Starostin] | |
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mnb Wanna Be |
#2 by mnb vhm at Aug 28, 1976 at 12:41 PM EST |
| In the good ol' mining days, they would keep birds in coalmines to detect poisonous gases. | |
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girl. Average |
#3 by girl. at Oct 6, 1976 at 1:45 PM EST |
| it's about being a hypochondriac and over reacting about everything -- behaving the way a canary would when deprived of oxygen. | |
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kenzie Wanna Be |
#4 by kenzie at Sep 9, 1977 at 5:37 AM EST |
| In the olden days, miners who went deep into coal shafts used to carry a golden canary with them into the chambers below. The miners, usually people who had spent their entire lives in the depths of mining shafts, were unable to sense when toxic gasses were escaping from the walls. The rule was simple, if you looked over and saw that the canary was laying on its side with "Xs" for eyes, you knew it was time to run as fast as you could towards an elevator. [Peter M. Denton] | |
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sean Average |
#5 by sean martineau at Nov 19, 1990 at 11:41 AM EST |
| I hope it's not too late to thank U a lot for the information above, sillybunny and to make the following small correction on my previous post here: ["he has experienced some big frustrations, which HAVE taken his taste for life."]. | |
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fasterdisco Average |
#6 by fasterdisco at Jan 3, 1997 at 5:19 PM EST |
| It's talking about someone who cannot just relax and enjoy his life just for a minute at least. He became a real neurotic and he's living at this way because he has experienced some big frustrations, which has taken his taste for life. He's feeling himself under permanent pressure after suffering a couple of flops and now even a simple trip to Firenza seems something terrible, despite the fact it's just a magnificent sunny city from Italy, thus a place where an influenza should be the last thing for thinking about it... | |
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shayn Rhythm Player |
#7 by shayn janis at Feb 3, 2003 at 6:13 AM EST |
| I'll agree with LolaBat. And this is a great energetic song that I've always liked. | |
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