Hey you guys,

I stumbled across this thread whilst looking for something else and, after a bit of googling, realised it's the seed of a whole host of misunderstanding about Donovan's 'Jersey Thursday'. I've still got the vinyl album, 'Fairytale', from when I was in a band in the '60s and have been playing this simple but lovely little tune ever since.

A couple of observations:

Never believe the sheet music! In this case it was transposed by someone who presumably had never heard of a capo and clearly didn't know that Donavon used one all the time.

The song is about a forlorn youngster (Donovan) sleeping rough on a beach in Jersey in the UK Channel Islands. The line is definitely: 'And the gulls go wheeling spinning, on Jersey Thursday' – trust me – there's a lyric sheet with my original vinyl LP!

Try it this way, I think you'll like it better:

Personally, I prefer the fuller sound of straight Am, but if you put your capo on the third fret (G) you can play along to Donovan and see where the Cm, Bb transposition comes from. Add some typical Donovan hammering on and open string picking to tart it up. (note: A4 shape is as Am but open B string)

(Sorry but the post engine here messes the chord positions up - the chords should fall on the word that follows it)

(Intro) Am          A4          Am            A4

(Am) In the tiny piece of (G) coloured glass
               
My love was (Am) born
                        
And reds and golds and (G) yellows
         
Were the (Am) colours in the dawn.
                     
Night brought on its (G) purple cloak
   
Of (Em) velvet to the sky
                        
And the (Am) gulls go wheeling, (G) spinning,

On Jersey (Am) Thursday

(Fade)    Am       A4         Am         A4       Am

Happy pickin' Cheers, Chris

P.S.

Lots of chords to old stuff, including the Beatles, falls neatly into place if you just shift it a fret or two. I recently watched John Williams (of all people) blathering on about George Harrison's 'Here Comes the Sun' being written in A. Assuming he was right and my own version in D was wrong, I tried without success to make it work in A. Then, a few months later, I watched a retrospective of dear old George playing it properly, off D shapes, with a capo on – vindicated!