A friend guitarist/entertainer, Jerome Gordon Bedker, used to sing this one and did a fine job. I'm not certain of the arrangment transcribed here, (I just did a search online and found this), but I can still hear Jerome's version echoing in my memory as I write this.

Jerome died this past year from liver problems due to his abuse of alcohol.


Chords for "Alcohol"
ALCOHOL

Written by: Raymond Douglas Davies
Published by: Davray Music Ltd.

Transcribed by Ian Grant <101642,232@compuserve.com)

Note: Don't let the 9th and 11th chords put you off. They simply describe the lagging, lazy melody. The melodic pattern descends beautifully as one does into a stupor.

Melody:  E  A  E  G  F F
Words:   Oh demon alcohol..
Chords:  Am      Dm11 Dm

The melody G on 'Alc' is the dominant 7th of Am but the 11th of the next chord,
Dm.

I transcribed it on a piano, where the bass notes alternate sometimes from the 5th to the 1st, at other times from the 1st-5th. I briefly checked it on a guitar, which I can't play but it sounded fine. However, I am not sure about a couple of parts:

Does it really modulate to A major for a few bars?
Is the Am on 'the floozy made...' right?
If anyone has a different view of the chorus changes, I'd like to hear them.

Enjoy that Mediterranean/ Kurt Weillian thang!!

Yours, Ian

Manchester, England.


Alcohol

[Intro 16 bars + 16 bars (with trumpet)]

Am E Am E....Am E Am E7 etc...

          Am
Here is a story about a sinner,

He used to be a winner who enjoyed a life of prominence and
  E/B
position,

But the pressures at the office and his socialite engagements,
                                 Am
And his selfish wife's fanatical ambition,

A
It turned him to the booze,

And he got mixed up with a floozy
                              Dm
And she led him to a life of indecision.
Am
The floozy made him spend his dole

She left him lying on Skid Row
          Am             E7     E7/B Am E7 Am
A drunken lag in some Salvation Army Mission.

E7 (an introductory arpeggio)
It's such a shame.

(A Chorus)
Am       Dm11 Dm
Oh demon alcohol,
Dm             E7(b9)  E7
Sad memories I cannot recall,
Am          Dm9  Dm
Who thought I would say,
E7           Am11    Am
Damn it all, blow it all,

(B Chorus)
Am       Dm11 Dm
Oh demon alcohol,
Dm         E7(b9)  E7
Memories I can't   recall,
Am          Dm9            E7             Am  E7 Am
Who thought I would fall a slave to demon alcohol.

[Repeat (B Chorus) Instrumental on line 1, Vocals on 2 and 3 as below]

Dm             E7(b9)  E7
Sad memories I can't  recall,

Am          Dm9            E7             Am  E7 Am
Who thought I would fall a slave to demon alcohol.

[16 Bars as intro]

Am
Barley wine pink gin,
He'll drink anything,
                E/B
Port, Pernod or tequila,
Rum, scotch, vodka on the rocks,
                                Am
As long as all his troubles disappeared.

A
But he messed up his life when he beat up his wife,
                                         Dm
And the floozy's gone and found another sucker
Am
She's gonna turn him on to drink
She's gonna lead him to the brink
And when his money's gone,
       E7        E7/B   Am
She'll leave him in the gutter,

E7 (ascending roll)
It's such a shame.

(A Chorus)
Am        Dm11
Oh demon alcohol,
Dm                    E7(b9)
Sad memories I cannot recall,
Am          Dm9
Who thought I would fall,
E7           Am11    Am
Damn it all, blow it all.

[Instrumental on (A Chorus) and the 1st line of (B chorus) Vocals on Lines 2 and 3, as below]

Dm             E7(b9)  E7
Sad memories I cannot recall,

Am          Dm9            E7             Am  E7 Am
Who thought I would fall a slave to demon alcohol.

[A 4 count before the melodic piano outro on the changes of (B Chorus)]