I Can't Own Her

(Partridge)

Apple Venus Volume 1

Recordings XTCfans interview with Andy Partridge Art Lyrics Chords and Tablature

Recordings

1. Album version, 5'26.
   Released on Apple Venus Volume 1.
   Orchestral arrangment by Mike Batt.

2. Demo version.
   Released on 27 September 1999 on Homespun in the U.K.

   Andy: “If it hadn't been for Haydn Bendall pushing rather passionately for this song, I doubt if it would have made it past this demo stage. Again, I felt like I'd exposed rather too much of myself to feel comfortable with. I'd written a song, which to my mind, had made me look weak, soft, indecisive and worst of all for a man, romantic. My life had been in turmoil. Someone I loved dearly was leaving my life and someone I loved dearly was entering it. I guess I was grasping for permanence under big waves of uncertainty. How could I seal my relationships, how could I stop this from happening in the future? You can buy a chair. And own that chair. You can buy a pen and own that pen, but you can't do that with a person. The Gossamer frailty of human love had frightened me awake.

   “Another reason I was reluctant to record a finished version was the ‘loungey’ feel of this demo. It was recorded, one or two chords at a time, into a computer with a sound that was a mixture of piano and string samples. This gave it a plump but leaden, sedate feel. Somehow, in my head it was more rolling and turbulent (much more how the album version thankfully turned out) and more like the climate in my heart.

   “One thing the demo caught which I think is a little missing on the finished one is the almost astral sense of suspension, brought about by the high F sharp hanging over the ‘swirling sky’ C chords. This interval makes me think of a paper lantern moon dangling from a cotton thread. I can't help it, my head's wired that way.”

3. Instrumental version.
   Released on 17 October 2002 on Instruvenus in Japan.

[Thanks to R. Stevie Moore]

Art

[THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

Lyrics

Album version:

And I may as well wish for the moon in hand

I own this river, I own this town
All of its climbers and its winos sliding down

But I can't own her and I never will
No I can't own her and that's a bitter pill
Taken with rain
'Til the gutter shines like the swirling sky
Like the swirling sky

I've got all morning, I've got all year
It's down in my pocket with the daylight folded there

But I can't own her and I never will
No I can't own her and that's a bitter pill
Taken with rain
How I'd wash her hair like the swirling sky
Like the swirling sky

And when I say I can't own her
I don't mean to buy her
It's nothing at all to do with money
I simply want her in my arms
Forever more, is that an odd request?
Is that something so funny?

And I may as well wish for the moon in hand
As there's more chance of that coming true

But I can't own her and I never will
No I can't own her and that's a bitter pill

So I can't own her
        Of all the things you've got the thing you want the most is her
And I never will
        And she's the one thing that you just can't have
No I can't own her
        Of all the things you've got the thing you want the most is her
And that's a bitter pill
        And she's the one thing that you just can't have
Taken with rain
Which I swallow down with the swirling sky
With the swirling sky

But I can't own her
        And I may as well wish for the moon in hand
No I can't own her
        As there's more chance of that coming true

© 1998 Copyright Control

Demo version:

And I may as well wish for the moon in hand

I own this river
I own this town
All of the climbers
And its wine all sliding down

But I can't own her
And I never will
No I can't own her
And that's a bitter pill
Taken with rain
'Til the gutter shines like the swirling sky
Like the swirling sky

I've got all morning
I've got all year
It's down in my pocket
In the daylight from the (?)

But I can't own her
And I never will
No I can't own her
And that's a bitter pill
Taken with rain
How I'd wash her hair like the swirling sky
Like the swirling sky

And when I say I can't own her
I don't mean to buy her
It's nothing at all to do with money
I merely want her in my arms
Forever more. Is that an odd request?
Is that something so funny?

And I may as well wish for the moon in hand
As this poor chance of love coming true

But I can't own her
And I never will
No I can't own her
And that's a bitter pill

Of all the things you've got
The thing you want the most
Is there, and she's the one thing that you just can't have

Of all the things you've got
The thing you want the most
Is there, and she's the one thing that you just can't have

But I can't own her
And I never will
No I can't own her
And that's a bitter pill
Taken with rain
Which I swallow down with the swirling sky
Like the swirling sky

And I can't own her
And I may as well wish for the moon in hand

[transcribed by Joshua Hall-Bachner]

Chords and Tablature

Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 01:04:59 EST
From: Kevin Brunkhorst <KB305 (at) aol dot com>
Subject: I Can't Own Her
Message-ID: <6da3ecab.36e75d0b (at) aol dot com>


I Can't Own Her

(Partridge)
Gsus                           G
And I may as well wish for the moon in hand
Am      F      G   sus4   3
...........................

C          D      C          D
I own this river, I own this town
C          D                C             D
All of its climbers and its winos sliding down

            Bm     Bdim7  Em11     Bm   /C#   /D
But I can't own her and I never will
            Bm    Bdim7        Em11     Asus
No I can't own her and that's a bitter pill
           F#m
Taken with rain
         C#m7                   Dmaj7
'Til the gutter shines like the swirling sky
         Cmaj7         D     Cmaj7   D
Like the swirling sky

I've got all morning, I've got all year
It's down in my pocket with the daylight folded there

But I can't own her and I never will
No I can't own her and that's a bitter pill
Taken with rain
How I'd wash her hair like the swirling sky
         Cmaj7          D       Cmaj7    D
Like the swirling sky

Eb/F     (add2)
And when I say I can't own her
Bb6/F    (5)
I don't mean to buy her
Eb/F     (add2)                 Bb6/F  (5)
It's nothing at all to do with money
Eb/F     (add2)
I simply want her in my arms
Bb6/F    (5)
Forever more, is that an odd request?
Eb/F     (add2)      Bb6/F    (5)
Is that something so funny?

Am7   F                        G
And I may as well wish for the moon in hand
Am7        F                          G        A
As there's more chance of that coming true

But I can't own her and I never will
No I can't own her and that's a bitter pill

So I can't own her
        Of all the things you've got the thing you want the most is her
And I never will
        And she's the one thing that you just can't have
No I can't own her
        Of all the things you've got the thing you want the most is her
And that's a bitter pill
        And she's the one thing that you just can't have
Taken with rain
Which I swallow down with the swirling sky
With the swirling sky

But I can't own her
        And I may as well wish for the moon in hand
No I can't own her
        As there's more chance of that coming true

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