Englishman In New York chords

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Englishman In New York | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

||: Em7 A | Bm Bm9 Bm/A :|| x4

Verse 1

||: Em7 A | Bm Bm9 Bm/A :||
I don’t drink coffee, I take tea, my dear.
I like my toast done on one side.
And you can hear it in my accent when I talk.
| Em7 A | Bm |
I’m an Englishman in New York.

Verse 2

||: Em7 A | Bm Bm9 Bm/A :||
See me walking down Fifth Avenue.
A walking cane here at my side.
I take it everywhere I walk.
| Em7 A | Bm Bm/A |
I’m an Englishman in New York.

Chorus 1

||: Em A | Bm :||
Oh, oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien, I’m an Englishman in New York.
Oh, oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien, I’m an Englishman in New York.

Verse 3

||: Em7 A | Bm Bm9 Bm/A :||
If “manners maketh man” as someone said.
He’s the hero of the day.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile.
| Em7 A | Bm |
Be yourself, no matter what they say.

Chorus 2

||: Em A | Bm :||
Wo-oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien, I’m an Englishman in New York.
Wo-oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien, I’m an Englishman in New York.

Middle 8

| D | A |
Modesty, propriety, can lead to notoriety.
| Bm Bm7 | F# F#7 |
You could end up as the only one.
| G | A |
Gentleness, sobriety are rare in this society.
| A#dim7 | Bm N.C |
At night a candle’s brighter than the sun.

Solo

||: Em7 A7 | Bm9 :|| x4
||: N.C | N.C :|| (drum solo)
| Em7 A7 | Bm9 |

Verse 4

||: Em7 A | Bm Bm9 Bm/A :||
Takes more than combat gear to make a man.
Takes more than a license for a gun.
Confront your enemies, avoid them when you can.
| Em7 A | Bm Bm/A |
A gentleman will walk but never run.

Verse 5

||: Em7 A | Bm Bm9 Bm/A :||
If “manners maketh man” as someone said.
He’s our hero of the day.
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile.
Be yourself no matter what they say, be yourself no matter what they say.
| Em7 A | Bm Bm |
Be yourself no matter what they say,

Outro

||: Em A | Bm :||
Be yourself no matter what they say. (Oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien).
Be yourself no matter what they say. (I’m an Englishman in New York).
Be yourself no matter what they say. (Oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien).
Be yourself no matter what they say. (I’m an Englishman in New York).
Be yourself no matter what they say. (Oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien).
Be yourself no matter what they say. (I’m an Englishman in New York).
Be yourself no matter what they say. (Oh, I’m an alien, I’m a legal alien).
Be yourself no matter what they say. (I’m an Englishman in New York).
Be yourself no matter what they say.

Englishman In New York’s chords and progressions

The chords are pretty simple, best seen in the key of Bm (Aeolian) or Em (Dorian). Using roman numerals, that’s II – V – VI. Em – A – Bm.

The only difference between the verse and the chorus is in the extensions, which use bigger chords for the verse in order to be faithful to the original recording.

That string section part can be played on guitar using Em7 – A – Bm – Bm9 – Bm/A. But during the chorus, calm it down to the bare bones of Em – A – Bm.

For the M8, we go to D (Ionian) and almost feel as if we changed the key, we haven’t, we’ve just gone to a different part of the key.

| D | A | Bm Bm7 | F# F#7 | Those first four bars are all from the same key, I – V – VI – IIIx. The F# is the most common place to change from minor to major.

Perhaps this is the genius of Sting, he makes it sound jazz, but really, it’s still pop.

Let’s take a look at how we can arrange the chords for Englishman In New York on just one acoustic guitar.

Here’s some TAB showing you the verse and chorus.

Englishman In New York chords, guitar TAB. — Englishman In New York Acoustic Guitar idea

Englishman In New York was Sting’s first big hit as a solo artist

After the enormous worldwide success Sting had with his band The Police between ’78 – ’83, he embarked on a solo career already the following year.

Being so well known by now, Sting could entice the finest studio musicians the world had to offer. This resulted in a much slicker sound than The Police New Wave power trio had produced. For some songs, he even had an orchestra now.

After his first solo album (Dream Of The Blue Turtle), which had one big hit on it in If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, he released Nothing Like The Sun. This album contained Fragile and what we’re looking at here, Englishman In New York.

By now Sting had definitely found his sound and shown the world that he could stand on his own two feet.

There would be one more album in Soul Cages before he would release his masterpiece Ten Summoner’s Tales in ’93.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves, Englishman In New York really is one of Sting’s best compositions, so study how he put this classic together very carefully, the devil is in the fine detail here!