Jackson Browne

Before The Deluge

Jackson Browne


Tom: G

|G      |C      |G       |C       |
|G      |C      |G       |D       |


[Verse 1]
G
Some of them were dreamers
C                     G
And some of them were fools
         Em               C                   G    C  G
Who were making plans and thinking of the future
         G
With the energy of the innocent
          C             G
They were gathering the tools
           Em                 C              G       C  G
They would need to make their journey back to nature
          Em                       G
While the sand slipped through the opening
          C                     G
And their hands reached for the golden ring
           Em                         C                  D      Em G D
With their hearts they turned to each other's heart for refuge
       Em                  C               G      C  G
In the troubled years that came before the deluge


[Verse 2]
G
Some of them knew pleasure
    C                 G
And some of them knew pain
        Em                  C                    G        C  G
And for some of them it was only the moment that mattered
           G
And on the brave and crazy wings of youth
          C                    G
They went flying around in the rain
          Em                C                   G         C  G
And their feathers, once so fine, grew torn and tattered
           Em                    G
And in the end they traded their tired wings
        C                G
For the resignation that living brings
     Em                         C
And exchanged love's bright and fragile glow
        D                          Em  G  D
For the glitter and the rouge
           Em               C                G     C G
And in the moment they were swept before the deluge


[Chorus]
                           G            C       G       C
Now let the music keep our spirits high
                               G             C
And let the buildings keep our children dry
G                        D               G      C
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by
       G           C
By and by...
         G                 C                     G        D
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky


[Verse 3]
G
Some of them were angry
       C                  G
At the way the earth was abused
       Em                     C                     G     C  G
By the men who learned how to forge her beauty into power
          G
And they struggled to protect her from them
C              G
Only to be confused
       Em                   C               G    C  G
By the magnitude of her fury in the final hour
             Em                    G
And when the sand was gone and the time arrived
       C                 G
In the naked dawn only a few survived
       Em               C                D                  Em   G  D
And in attempts to understand a thing so simple and so huge
              Em                     C           G     C  G
Believed that they were meant to live after the deluge


[Chorus]
                           G            C       G       C
Now let the music keep our spirits high
                               G             C
And let the buildings keep our children dry
G                        D                      G      C
Let creation reveal it's secrets by and by
       G           C
By and by...
         G                 C                     G        D
When the light that's lost within us reaches the sky


[Coda]
|G      |C      |G       |C       |
|G      |C      |G       |D       |
|G      |C      |G       |C       |
|G      |C      |G       |D       |

|G      |Am     |Bm      |C       |
|G      |C      |G       |D       |
|G



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I’ve added a sample fingerstyle arrangement of the intro. The intro is not played like 
the original recording but it’s a way of playing
the intro violin melody combined with chords.

The vertical lines (|) above the high e string indicate the quarter note beats of the measures.

Tuning: EADGBe
Intro:

   G                 C                 G                 C
   |   |   |   |     |   |   |   |     |   |   |   |     |   |   |   |
E|-----------------|---3---------5---|-7-----8-7-5-----|---3---------5---|
B|-3-----3-----3-5-|-----5-----------|-----8-------8-5-|-----5-----------|
G|-----4-----------|-------5---5---5-|---7-------------|-------5---5---5-|
D|---5-------5-----|-----------------|-5-------5-------|-----------------|
A|-----------------|-3-------3-------|-----------------|-3-------3-------|
E|-3-------3-------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|

   G                 C                 G C/E                D/F#
   |   |   |   |     |   |   |   |     |   |   |   |     |   |   |   |
E|-7-----8-7-5-----|---3---------5---|-7-----7-------7-|-5-----5---------|
B|-----8-------8-5-|-----5-----------|-----8-------8---|-----7---8---10--|
G|---7-------------|-------5---5---5-|---7-------7-----|---7-----9---11--|
D|-5-------5-------|-----------------|-5-------5-------|-----------------|
A|-----------------|-3-------3-------|-----------------|-5-------7---9---|
E|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|-----------------|