Thing Called Love Guitar Tabs by John Hiatt

#----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
#------------------------------------------------------------------------------##
thing_called_love.tab is a corrected and expanded version
of thing_called_love.crd which was tabbed by Jeremy Crowhurst (who
no longer has an internet account) and was based on the Bonnie Raitt
cover version rather than the original.


THING CALLED LOVE - John Hiatt
-----------------

F#5
 Don't have to humble yourself to me
I ain't your judge or your king
A    E                                F#5
Baby,  you know you ain't no Queen of Sheba
We may not even have our own dignity, no
This could be just some prideful thing,
A           E                            F#5     (/E)
Baby we can choose you know we ain't no amoebas

D                           G            A
 But are you ready for this thing called love?
D                            G              A
 Don't come from you and me, comes from up above
D                    G               A
 I ain't no porcupine, take off your kid gloves,
D                       B5           F#5
 Are you ready for this thing called love?

And you ain't some icon carved out of soap, 
Sent down here to clean up my reputation
Baby, I ain't your Prince Charming,
Now we can live in fear or act out of hope, 
For some kind of peaceful situation
Baby, don't know why the cry of love is so alarming

 (Chorus)

F#5  A
       The ugly ducklings don't turn into swans,
F#5  A
       And glide off down on the lake,
F#5  A
       Whether your sunglasses are off or on,
D                  B5        
  You only see the world you make

(Acoustic solo): F#5  A5  B5  E5   (x4)
  
F#5           A5                      B5             E5
   Before the laws of God and laws of man I take you for my wife, yeah
   To love, honour, cherish and obey,
   Now I didn't have no plans to live this kind of life, no
   It just worked out that way

And are you ready for this thing called love?
Don't come from you and me, comes from up above
I ain't no porcupine, take off your kid gloves,
D                      G    A
 Are you ready for it?
And are you ready for this thing called love?
Don't come from you and me, comes from up above
I ain't no porcupine, take off your kid gloves,
Are you ready for this thing called love?

(Acoustic solo): [Same chords as before]

Just a crazy thing called love (x lots to fade)
.................

NB On this song, the acoustic guitar is "dropped-G" tuned 
(low to high EADEBE). 
Chords used: F#5-244222  A-x02020 or 577555  E-022000
D-xx0535, xx053x or x57575   G-355333 or 3x033x   B5-x242xx or 799777

Note that the acoustic is mixed quite low, so I'm not certain about the 
chord shapes. 
I didn't have much luck transcribing the solos (either studio or Live at 
Budokhan), but if it's any help, they're all based on the F# blues scale
(F# A B C C# E).
.................
The main electric riff played thoughout the verses is this:
  +   +   +   +     +   +   +   +     
|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|
|---------2-------|-----2-----------|
|-----1-4---------|-1-4-------------|
|---2-----------2-|--------------/2-|
Play it with some distortion and lots of muted strums etc between the notes.
When you get to the third line of the verse, it goes like this
 +    +     +   +   +   +     +   +   +   +     
----------|-----------------|-----------------|
----------|-----------------|-----------------|
----------|-----------------|-----------------|
----------|-------2---------|-----------------|
---0-/4-0-|---0-4---0-------|---2-------------|
----------|---------------0-|/4---0-----------|

If you want to make the chorus sound like Ry, then have a good listen to 
the album, cause it's beaten me. Otherwise just play ordinary chords.
However, the following is a vaguely Ryish lick that Michael Ward uses at 
one point on the Live at Budokan album (use sparingly - once per chorus 
at most)
  +   +   +   +     +   +   +   +     
|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----------------|-----------------|
|-----0-----0-----|-5---5---7-------|
|-4b5---4b5---2-0-|-5---5---7-------|
|-----------------|-3---3---5-------|

The power chords that the electric uses for the rest of the song are:
F#5-244xxx  A5-x022xx  D5-xx023x  B5-x244xx  E5-022xxx
...........
Comments, questions, suggestions, corrections, requests always welcome.
Enjoy!
 
Paul Hutchinson
...........
PS Check out the John Hiatt web page at http://www.unicom.com/john-hiatt

Click to get the code!