Town Called Malice | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: (D B A) :|| x4 bass intro
||: D5 | D5 (D6) | D | D (D6) :|| keys intro
Verse 1
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
You better stop dreaming of the quiet life, ’cause it’s the one we’ll never know.
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
And quit running for that runaway bus, ’cause those rosy days are few.
| G | G | F#m7 | F#m7 |
And stop apologizing for the things you’ve never done.
| A | A | A7 | A7 |
‘Cause time is short and life is cruel, but it’s up to us to change.
Chorus 1
| D5 | D5 (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
This town called Malice.
| D | D (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
Verse 2
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
Rows and rows of disused milk floats, stand dying in the dairy yard.
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
And a hundred lonely housewives clutch empty milk bottles to their hearts.
| G | G | F#m7 | F#m7 |
Hanging out their old love letters on the line to dry.
| A | A | A7 | A7 |
It’s enough to make you stop believing, when tears come fast and furious.
Chorus 2
| D5 | D5 (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
In a town called Malice, yeah.
| D | D (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
Verse 3
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
Ba ba ba ba, ba da ba. Ba ba ba da ba.
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
Ba ba ba ba, ba da ba. Ba ba ba da ba.
| G | G | F#m7 | F#m7 |
Struggle after struggle, year after year.
| A | A | A7 | A7 |
The atmosphere’s a fine blend of ice I’m almost stone-cold dead.
Chorus 2
| D5 | D5 (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
In a town called Malice, ooh yeah.
| D | D (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
Middle 8
| C#m | C#m | Bm | Bm |
A whole street’s belief in Sunday’s roast beef.
| C#m | C#m | Bm | Bm |
Gets dashed against the Co-op.
| A | A | A7 | A7 |
To either cut down on beer or the kids new gear, it’s a big decision
Chorus 3
| D5 | D5 (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
In a town called Malice, ooh yeah.
Breakdown
||: (D B A) :|| x4 (as bass intro)
| D5 | D5 (D6) | D | D (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
Oooh.
Verse 4
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
The ghost of a steam train, echoes down my track.
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
It’s at the moment bound for nowhere, just going round and round, oh.
| G | G | F#m7 | F#m7 |
Playground kids and creaking swings, lost laughter in the breeze.
| A | A | A7 | A7 |
I could go on for hours and I probably will but I’d sooner put some joy back in.
Chorus 4
| D5 | D5 (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
This town called Malice, yeah.
||: D | D (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) :|| to fade
Oooh. In this town called Malice, yeah.
In this town called Malice, ooh yeah.
Town Called Malice chords, progressions, and TAB
The Jam‘s Town Called Malice is a proper classic in England. Four decades after its release, this is still a great secret weapon for the working band or DJ.
The chords are clever, there’s a key change/modal interchange in there, and most interesting to me, when Paul Weller plays an acoustic version, he’s changed the chord riff. We’ll get to why in a bit, let’s start with the intro and focus on the original recording.
Below, you’ll find TAB of the bass line, it uses the root, 5th and 6th. You’ll find this type of rhythm in You Can’t Hurry Love and Are You Gonna Be My Girl.
The Jam probably heard it on Iggy Pop’s hit Lust For Life (1977), which does feel a bit like a reference track in general for Town Called Malice.
The bass is joined by keyboards after four bars. Should you play this on one acoustic guitar, below you’ll find TAB for how you could play this.
The chords move from highlighting the root, adding a 6th, then when repeated, it highlights the 3rd instead. This is how I would play this:
In the playlist above, there’s an acoustic version of Paul Weller playing Town Called Malice on his own. He’s completely changed the riff.
I’ve transcribed this for you so you can choose which one you prefer when you play Town Called Malice.
Paul has changed the extensions and I’m thinking he did this because if he was to add the 6th, then he couldn’t play an open D string anymore, so he just moved up a string.
This way of thinking only seems to happen by guitar players and I guess as it’s his tune, he can do whatever he wants!
Anyway, if we ignore that for now and go back to the “original”, what’s so interesting about this riff is that when it comes back for the chorus, the keyboard changes when to highlight the 3rd.
Also, during the outro, it again changes when it appears. Check the chords and lyrics above for how. All this was done in the key of D by the way.
The verse chords first move between III – II. Then IV – III – V, like this:
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
| F#m7 | F#m7 | Em | Em |
| G | G | F#m7 | F#m7 |
| A | A | A7 | A7 |
The chorus is (as mentioned) the riff, just delaying when that 3rd comes in, like this:
| D5 | D5 (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
| D | D (D6) | D5 | D5 (D6) |
Finally the middle 8 section. For this, we change the key temporarily to A, still using the same movement (III – II) as we had in the verse, like this:
||: C#m | C#m | Bm | Bm :||
| A | A | A7 | A7 |
The A chord is chord I, then changes to chord V (modal interchange) as we are going back to the key of D again for a shorter chorus and a breakdown section.
During the breakdown, we play two bars less than expected, this is very clever, it makes the final verse feel fresh.
Finally, the outro puts the 3rd of the riff first, again, a small but very important arrangement detail that keeps the listener engaged.
In my experience, musicians who care about these tiny details eventually emigrate out of the wedding band scene and start recording albums and touring with artists. They are also the ones who successfully write their own tunes.
Perhaps most importantly, musicians that skip this step of studying and playing other peoples tunes and go straight to writing their own stuff tend to lack substance.
Town Called Malice chords | Related pages
Five similar tunes
- Are You Gonna Be My Girl chords
- Don’t Look Back Into The Sun chords
- Sunny Afternoon chords
- That’s Entertainment chords
- Wonderwall chords
The Jam
Formed by Paul Weller and his classmates in 1972, The Jam was a Mod/punk/rock band that released albums between 1975-1982.
Their best tunes include Town Called Malice, Down in the Tube Station at Midnight, Going Underground, and That’s Entertainment.
The Jam on the web
