It's Nearly Africa

(Partridge)

#\#i#/#English Settlement#\#/i#/#

English Settlement

Recordings
XTCfans interview with Andy Partridge
Art
Lyrics
Chords and Tablature
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Recordings

  1. Album version, 3'54.
    Released on English Settlement.
    andy-lead and backing vocals, semi-acoustic electric guitar, alto sax
    colin-fender bass
    dave-prophet V, backing vocals
    terry-drums, drum synthesiser
    hans de vente - special guest vocal support

    Andy: “The body of the song was written in 1975; I never thought about finishing it till 1981. The original song was called ‘It's Primitive Now.’ It was a little celebration of all things primitive, of how we should slow down and appreciate being basically animals, in the good sense of the word; how we should realize we're really very primitive and find the joy in that, rather than racing onwards through technology and losing our realness.”

Art

[THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]


Lyrics

i t ' s   n e a r l y   a f r i c a
  ccc   hant your spirit free;   rush to greet truth like a dart
cc   cc shake  your bag o'bones  shake your bag o'bones,  that's
c       not traffic roar -- that's a leopard in your heart shake
cc   cc your bag o'bones     shake your bag o'bones      go tell
  ccc   your  stale  friends   go tell false prophets  and  drug
traffickers not   to try    to push     our bodies  any   faster
we're dancing with  disaster  and  the  first  will be  the last
it's   nearly   africa,  oh-oh,    it's    nearly africa,  oh-oh,
any day now   any day, now now
unplug  future  plans;    finger-paint the   sun on   you  shake
your  bag o'bones   shake    your  bag  o'bones,   mend     your
missing links ---  I    think trust   should be the   glue shake
your bag    o'bones  shake  your  bag   o'bones   go  tell  your
warboys go  tell  all  leeches   and  blind panickers   not   to
try to  push  your  bodies   any   faster we're   dancing   with
disaster  and the  first  will be the  last it's   nearly africa,
oh-oh,  it's   nearly    africa,   oh-oh  any   day,  now    any
day, now now
our civilisation    car is   running wild    who did  you   give
the  wheel  to?   the  fat  man  driving us  over  the  edge  of
the   nearest  cliff-face  is he  the   same god  that I've seen
you kneel to?

andy - lead and  backing vocals,  semi-acoustic  electric guitar,
alto   sax   colin - fender bass   dave -  prophet  V,   backing
vocals   terry - drums,  drums  synthesiser  special guest vocal
support - hans de vente                 composed by a. partridge

© 1982 Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd.
[Thanks to Gary Jedlicka]


Chords and Tablature

Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 17:09:52 +0100
From: Jordi Ibáñez Llauradó <lohagoporelmessenger (at) hotmail dot com>
Subject: xtc songs
Message-ID: <BAY113-F11D978375E7EAC7A754B66DA390 (at) phx dot gbl>


OK, my first posting. please be gentle. i just want to say that
that's been done with no keyboard or organ at hand, so i can't
be more precise about the chords. that's why here you'll only
find the basic chords: it's up to you, people that can write,
read and dissect chords, to finish this work. so here it goes,
all the songs in the XTC catalogue that hadn't been tabbed in
this great site, from "black sea" to "nonsuch". you won't find
anything from "mummer" because the whole album has already been
"chorded" in this site.

don't expect any riffs or arpeggios, BTW. that's as far as my
skills go...

maybe i should be ashamed to post something like this (so
incomplete, wrong and childish) but it's just for the sake of
people who just want to strum XTC songs and sing and don't care
much if this is a sus4, added or other bollocks chord (and i must
point that i am one of those who really care, so i'm willing to
read all kinds of comments and corrections). please, john relph,
erase every transcription of mine as soon as a proper tab of each
song made by any other XTC fan who's more trained on guitar than me
comes to your mail.

songs like "the somnambulist" or "seagulls..." were meant to be
played on keyboards and sound terrible on guitar. beware!


IT'S NEARLY AFRICA
capo on 1st fret
verse: A(7)-G(7)
bridge ("don't tell..."): E7-C-F#m-G-E-C-E-C
chorus ("any day..."): E-D
middle 8: B and then G-C

--
hope that will be useful for somebody.
merry Xmas!
feedback welcome at jordiibanez (at) mixmail dot com
                 or lohagoporelmessenger (at) hotmail dot com

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