The Ballad Of The Shape Of Things by The Kingston Trio, tabs and chords at PlayUkuleleNET

The Ballad Of The Shape Of Things

by The Kingston Trio

Biography:

The Kingston Trio is an American folk group that helped launch the folk revival of the 1960s and continued to thrive despite the emergence of rock and roll.

The Kingston Trio was formed in 1957 in the Palo Alto, California area by original lineup of Dave Guard (1934–1991), Bob Shane (1934–2020), and Nick Reynolds (1933–2008), who were just out of college. Greatly influenced by The Weavers, the calypso sounds of Harry Belafonte, and other semi-popular folk artists such as the Gateway Singers and the Tarriers

Read more on Last.fm

Other songs:

Share this tab

Four years of hard work!

This month of May we celebrated four years on the air. We continue working on the dissemination of this wonderful instrument, thank you for participating in our story!

Return-Path:
Date: Thu, 4 Aug 1994 00:06:14 -0600 (MDT)
Subject: k/kingston_trio/the_ballad_of_the_shape_of_things.num
To: Nevada Guitar
Cc: Barrie McCombs

THE BALLAD OF THE SHAPE OF THINGS Time: 2/4 Tenor: D Bass: C

1 * 4 * * * 57 *
Com-pletely round is the perfect pearl, the oyster manu-factures
1 * 4 * * * 57 *
Com-pletely round is the steering wheel that leads to compound fractures
4 * 1 * 4 * 1 *
Com-pletely round is the golden fruit that hangs in the orange tree
1 57 1 57
Yes, the circle shape is quite re-nowned
1 57 1 57
And sad to say, it can be found
1 4 57 1
In the dirty, low-down run-a-round
1 4 1 57 1 57 1 *
My true love gave to me - ee, yes, my true love gave to me

Completely square is the velvet box, he said my ring would be in
Completely square is the envelope, he wrote farewell to me in
Completely square is the handkerchief I flourish constantly
As it dries my eyes of the tears I've shed
And blows my nose 'til it turns bright red
For a perfect square is my true love's head
He will not marry me; no he will not marry me

Rectangular is the hotel door my true love tried to sneak through
Rectangular is the transom hole which I had to peek through
Rectangular is the hotel room I entered angrily
Now, rectangular is the wooden box
Where lies my love 'neath the grazing flocks
They say he died of the chickenpox
In part I must agree; one chick too many had he

Triangular is the piece of pie I eat to hide my sorrow
Triangular is the hatchet blade I plan to hide tomorrow
Triangular the relationship that now has ceased to be
And the self-same shape is a garment thin
That fastens on with a safety pin
To a prize I had no wish to win
It's a lasting memory: that my true love gave to me

NOTES:
- Sung in madrigal style
- V3L2: "over" for "hole"
- V3L5: "golden flox" for "grazing flocks" (Kingston Trio)
- V4L4: "triangular" for "the self-same" (Kingston Trio)

SYMBOLS:
- Asterisk (*) = new measure, play same chord
- Period (.) = 1/8 note rest at start of a measure
- Underline(_) = sustain note into next measure

CHORDS (Nashville Number System):
- This system permits you to play a song in any key
- It uses the numeric relationships between chords in a given key
- The numbers are the notes of the diatonic scale (do-re-me-fa-so-la-ti-do)

Common Keys 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Key of C: C D E F G A B
Key of D D E F# G A B C#
Key of E E F# G# A B C# D#
Key of F F G A Bb C D E
Key of G G A B C D E F#
Key of A A B C# D E F# G#
Key of Bb Bb C D Eb F G A

EDITING (to a chosen key):
- Use the "replace" feature of any text editor
- Most songs use four chords or less ( 1 > 5 > 4 > 6 )
- Beware: the number 7 could be the seventh scale note or a 7th chord

- Submitted by: Barrie McCombs ([email protected])