Van der Graaf Generator - The Undercover Man

      Van der Graaf Generator - The Undercover Man
from the album Godbluff (1975).
Transcribed by Cory (coryp23@gmail.com), July 2010

F#m    F# sus E     D   C#m
--2-----2-----4-----2-------|
--2-----2-----5-----3----5--|
--2-----4-----4-----2----6--|
--4-----4-----6-----0----6--|
-------------------------4--|
----------------------------|

F#m         F#sus 
Here at the glass - 
              F#m                        F#sus
all the usual problems, all the habitual farce.
F#m                   F#sus
You ask, in uncertain voice, 
                F#m
what you should do,
                   E                  D
as if there were a choice but to carry on 
           C#m
miming the song
                              F#m
and hope that it all works out right.

                       F#sus     
Tonight it all seems so strange - 
               F#m/A          F#sus/G#
my spirit feels rigid, my body deranged;
      F#m                          F#sus
still that's only from one point of view
                    F#m/A                E
and we can't have illusion between me and you,
           D                     C#m
my constant friend, ever close at hand -
                      F#m
you and the undercover man.


[E F#]E/G#           B/D#
---------0----------------|
---------0-------------4--|
---------1-------------4--|
---------2-------------4--|
-----------------------6--|
-0-2--4-------------------|
 I re flect: 'It's very strange
                        D 
to be going through this change
                          G
with no idea of what it's all been about

 [E    F  G   A  B    C#]Bb/D         Bb B5 
----------------------------|       --------|
-------------------------3--|       --3--3--|
-------------------------3--|       --3--3--|
-------------------------3--|       --3--2--|
--------------0--2----4--5--|       --1--1--|
--0----1--3-----------------|       --------|
 [E    F  G   A  B    C#]Bb/D  
except in the context of time...'
          Bb      B5                                    C
Oh, but I shirk it, I've half a mind not to work it all out.

  D   C  C#dim
------------|
--7---5--5--|
--7---5--3--|
--7---5--5--|
--5---3--4--|
------------|

D                                  G                A
Is this madness just the recurring wave of total emotion,
    D                        G     A                  
or a hide for the undercover man,
     D                          G                    A
or a litany - all the signs are there of fervent devotion -


       D    C   C  Cmaj7 C      C   Cmaj7  F
----------------8--7------------8---7------5--|
-------7----5---5--5-----8------5---5------6--|
-------7----5---5--5-----9------5---5------5--|
-------7----5---5--5-----10-----5---5------7--|
-------5----3------------10-------------------|
-------------------------8--------------------|
or the cracking of the   dam?

C Cmaj7 C   C Cmaj7 F
     
     F#dim Adim Cdim             Ebdim    Em
---------------------------------------------|
-----1-------4---7---------------10-------8--|
-----2-------5---8---------------11-------9--|
-----1-------4---7---------------10-------9--|
------------------------------------------7--|
-----2-------5---8---------------11----------|
It's cracked;        smashed and bursting over you,
             D                       C
there was no reason to expect such disaster.


B    Em    EmMaj7  G/D   A/Db
-----7--| ---7--| --3-----5--|
-7---8--| ---8--| --3-----5--|
-8---9--| ---8--| --4-----6--|
-9------| ------| --5--------|
-9---7--| ---6--| --5-----4--|
-7------| ------| -----------|
B    Em                     
Now, panicking, you burst for air,
EmMaj7
drowning, you know you care
G/D                             A/Db    
for nothing and no-one but yourself
          G
and would deny even this hand
                Bm    D     A      G
which stretches out towards you to help.

            Gmaj7             Cmaj7          C       B
--------------------------------------------------------|
------------3-----------------5--------------5-------4--|
------------4-----------------4--------------5-------4--|
------------4-----------------5--------------5-------4--|
------------------------------3--------------3-------2--|
------------3-------------------------------------------|
But would I leave you in this moment of your trial?
            Gmaj7       Cmaj7           C  B
Is it my fault that I'm here to see you crying?

              Am           Am+                  Am
------------------------------------------------------------|
----------------------1------------1---------------------1--|
--------------------2------------2---------------------2----|
------------------2------------3---------------------2------|
--------------r-0----------r-0-------------------r-0--------|
------------------------------------------------------------|
These phantom figures all around you should have told you,
                Am+          G
you should have found out by now,
                                                C
if you hadn't gone and tried to do it all by yourself.

Ab  Bb  C

Db5  D5   Eb9
-------------|
----------6--|
--6--7----6--|
--6--7----5--|
--4--5----6--|
-------------|

Sax solo over F minor riff

[Db Eb] E             B/D#                          D
 Ev-en  now we are not lost: if you look out at the night
                               G 
you'll see the colours and the lights seem to say
[E  F   G   A   Bb  C]Bb/D             Bb
 people are not far a-way, at least in distance,
         B5
and it's only our own dumb resistance
                C
that's making us stay.

D  C  C#dim

D                                       G                    A
When the madness comes, let it flood on down and over me sweetly,
       D                                          G        A
let it drown the parts of me weak and blessed and damned,
       D                             G                  A
let it slake my life, let it take my soul and living completely,
    D  C  C   Cmaj7 C
let it be who I     am.

A         D                         G               A
There may not be time for us all to run in tandem together -
    D                               G      A 
the horizon calls with its parallel lines.
       D                                G                  A
It may not be right for you to have and hold in one way forever
    D   C   C     Cmaj7 C       C Cmaj7 F
and yet you still have  time,

    C     Cmaj7 C     C Cmaj7 F
you still have  time.