Ten Feet Tall
(Moulding)
USA Ten Feet Tall single cover |
Recordings Art Lyrics Chords and Tablature |
| « Previous | Contents | Next » |
Colin: “Now and again one should be able to throw a spanner in the works for a bit of devilment. This song was my spanner in 1979.
“I suppose it was my reaction to the ‘Quirk, Jerk, Spiky, Crikey, Start, Stop’ of our previous form. Back then, we had a particular aversion to anything that sounded remotely ‘west coast’ and cries for me to do this song as a solo record came from some quarters. Now of course, having tried every style under the sun, all of us can listen to it now and wonder what all the fuss was about.
“I was contacted at the time by the representatives of the Italian film director Michaelangelo Antonioni, who wanted to use the song in his forthcoming film. Whether it got there or not, I never found out. It will probably turn up on the late night BBC2 spot reserved for foreign films, for people to discover when they come back from the pub a bit blurry eyed.”
Andy: “Why did we stop there? I just can't remember. Well, here we are, up to our skinny ties recording the Drums And Wires album, and just being a tad daring by working in an acoustic powered song, courtesy of our Colin Ivor. This is one of the nicest quality recording we've done, but we did have the genius fingers of Hugh Padgham flitting across the faders. Virgin asked us to record an electric version for U.S. single release. Which we did. But it never had the bittersweet charm of this one.”
Andy: “An electric version of the song on Drums And Wires for a never released American single.”
Dave: “Only a single in America - our first, in fact. . .” Colin: “Personally I prefer the album version.” Andy: “I remember [Terry] Chambers getting quite irate because Phil kept trying to put timbale breaks in. I think he managed to slip them on while we were away on tour, and Terry wasn't around to nut him.”
Andy: “This is the ‘Americanized’ version. Virgin said they really liked the song, and they thought it was going to be a great single, except they wanted us to record it electric and faster and that we had to change the structure of it. So we played it a little faster, and got more of a rolling feel, with hopefully the same sort of integrity.”
[Thanks to R. Stevie Moore and Doug Bailey]
UK Ten Feet Tall flexi from Smash Hits |
Wait Till Your Boat Goes Down back cover |
lyrics to the SMASH HITS freebie (“Ten Feet Tall” by XTC and “The Olympian” by The Skids) |
Happy I'm floating
Around on my feet now
You make me go dizzy
I'm weak at the knees
I feel like I'm walking
Round ten feet tall
Well you say I'm faking
And I say don't worry
The way that I bubble
There's something in the make
I feel like I'm walking
Round ten feet tall
Right, the chemistry is right
This boy has reached his height
The feeling just goes on and on...
From strength to strength
I'm ten feet long...
I feel like I'm walking
Round ten feet tall
© 1979 Virgin Music (Publishers) Ltd.
Date: Tue, 12 Dec 1995 13:45:08 -0500 From: RandyXpher (at) aol dot com Subject: Ten Feet Tall! Message-ID: <951212134507_52024510 (at) emout05 dot mail dot aol dot com> Ten Feet Tall chords *My* undetailed view of the chorus would seem to be: F Am C G F Am Right...The chemistry is right... C G F Am This boy has reached his height... C G This feeling just goes... At least that's how I used to play it. RC
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 1995 01:31:50 -0600
From: jh3 (at) ns dot cencom dot net (JH3)
Subject: Ten Feet Tall: Chords, Charts, & Leads Too!
Message-Id: <9512090732.AA19406 (at) ns dot cencom dot net>
Dear Chalkitarists --
First I'd like to acknowledge the helpful collaboration of
James R. "jrcampbe (at) bingham dot mines dot utah dot edu" Campbell in putting
this here post together.
Someone mentioned something about using a capo on "Roads Girdle
the Globe." It may just be the recording, but it seems like
much of Drums & Wires is tuned slightly under a half-step
higher than standard. I usually just tune up to the record,
myself, rather than deal with those messy capo's...Sorry if
anybody got frustrated because of this.
---------------------------------------
TEN FEET TALL
by Colin Moulding (I checked this time)
As you all know there's a lot of intricate guitar stuff going on
in this song, and I doubt that I've caught all of it. As usual I
make no claims as to accuracy. But here goes...
Note that this is for the original, more acoustic version,
not the re-recorded electric version on the US single and on
"Rag & Bone Buffet." I think most people prefer the original...
Intro (guitar by itself):
Bm: X24432
F#m: 244222
G6: 320000 (you could also use 355300)
A6: X02222 (...and 57X670)
Bm, F#m, G6 again...
C: X32010 (5 times as 8th notes)
F: 133211
C7: X32310
The chords to the first part of the verse are basically the
same, i.e. Bm, F#m, G, and A. But since this is the best part of
the song it would be a cop-out on my part not to try to chart the whole
thing:
The "Happy, I'm Floating" bit:
----------------------------------------------------------------
-------3-2------R-----------------------3-2---------------------
-----4-----2----E---------------------4-----2-------------------
---4---------4--S----0---2----------4---------4---4-2-0---------
-2--------------T--2---2---4---4--2----------------------4-2-0--
-----------------------------5----------------------------------
The "Feel Like I'm Walkin' etc." bit:
--------------------------
-----------------------0--
-----------------------0--
--7--7-7-5-5-5-5-4--4--5--5
--8--8-8-7-7-7-7-5--5--7--7 and repeat.
--------------------------
An undetailed view of the chorus would seem to be:
F C F C
Right...The chemistry is right...
F C
This boy has reached his height...
Fmaj7 (add B): 133200
This feeling just goes on... and on... and on... and on
C C C C C - F - C7
>From strength to strength I'm ten feet long...
The detailed version: Try this after the 1st F, instead of C:
-------------------:--0-3---1--0--------:--0--3---1--0-----
-------------1-3-1-:--1-1---1----3-1--1-:--1--1---1----3-1-
-----------0-------:--0-0---0---------2-:--0--0---0--------
-------0-2---------:--2---------------3-:--2---------------
---0-3-------------:--3---------------3-:--3---------------
-3-----------------:------------------1-:------------------
And then into Fmaj7 (add B): 133200.
So...how far should I go with this?
Should I chart the leads too?
The first (lower) lead: (^ means bend upwards)
---------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------
-66-66-------44-44-------------------------2-4-66^-
-------44-44-------2-4^-2-------2-4^-2-4-0---------
----------------------------2-4--------------------
---------------------------------------------------
The second (higher) lead:
-7---9---------7-----9----10------12------14----19-17-
--7-7-10--10----8-----10----12--12--14--14--15--------
---7----9----7---7-9----9-----11------14------16------
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------
Then there's another chorus, another verse, and the
"quiet bit", in which the guitar does nothing except
this little lick between
stanzas:
------------ ...Then out --------------------------------
------------ of the song (FeelikeImwlknrnda10a-feet-tall)
---2--->5--- with more ---------------------------0----
-0---0------ "feel like -----3--------2-------0----5----
------------ I'm walkin," ---3---3----2---2---0---0--7----
------------ like this: -1--------0-------2-------------
And fade out. (However you would accomplish that.)
Happy pickin' n' a-strummin'!
-- John "JH3" Hedges
Always available for freelance work| « Previous | Contents | Next » |
Go back to XTC Reel by Real.
16 September 2019 / Feedback