Lyr/Chords Req: Jersey Thursday (Donovan)

Subject: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: GUEST,RedCassis
Date: 19 Sep 01 - 05:36 PM

Hi folks!

Am wondering if anyone knows the chords to Jersey Thursday by Donovan (Dylan-ish Folksinger in mid 60's)? The song has few words, but it's still beautiful. So if anyone knows the chords, please write them!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: Helen
Date: 22 Sep 01 - 09:10 AM

Hi RedCassis,

Here are the chords from a piece of sheet music I have.

Helen

Jersey Thursday Donovan

|Cm |Bb| In the tiny piece of coloured glass

|Cm|||
my love was born

| |Bb |
and reds and golds and yellow

| |Cm||||
were the colours in the dawn.

|Bb |
Night brought on its pur-ple cloak

| |Gm|
of velvet to the sky

|Cm |
and the girls go willing

Bb|||Cm||||

Notes: the chord changes in the middle of the word "sky", and there are a few bars of music after the last words.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: Helen
Date: 22 Sep 01 - 09:16 AM

Damn, I did it with Courier font but the spaces didn't show up so now the chord changes are all in the wrong place. Also left out the line break at end of first line of chords.

Chord changes are: Cm = tiny, Bb = col-[oured], Cm = born, Bb = yel-[low], Cm = dawn, Gm = sky, Cm = girls, Bb & Cm [after the lyrics end]

Helen

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: Roughyed
Date: 23 Sep 01 - 03:50 AM

I always heard that last line as 'the gulls were wheeling, spinning" but maybe I was just innocent then.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: Helen
Date: 23 Sep 01 - 07:30 PM

Hi Swann,

THe words and chords I posted are from a photocopied page of a sheet music book. I don't know the name of the book, and I don't know how close to the actual words & music it is. So anything is possible until proven otherwise.

I thought the last line was a bit odd, myself.

I don't recall the song on any of the 3 Donovan vinyl albums I have, but it is a bit of a production setting up the record player to hear them. I should have taped them before I packed the player away. Oh well.

Helen

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: Helen
Date: 26 Sep 01 - 04:12 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: Helen
Date: 01 Oct 01 - 07:14 AM

I'm hoping that Guest, RedCassis comes back and finds this thread, so I'm refreshing it again.

Helen

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: Helen
Date: 06 Oct 01 - 07:44 AM

I just bought a CD with this song on it. Now I know what it is supposed to sound like. I only had the music, but it wasn't on any of the 3 vinyl records I have.

Helen

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: Roughyed
Date: 06 Oct 01 - 02:20 PM

The only memory I have of it is on a cheap album called Fairytale and the only other track I can remember on it was 'Fairytale' There are some forgotten gems in Donovans opus. I've been singing Spring Song for a while and Mexico and they go down very well in the right company

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: JERSEY THURSDAY (by Donovan)
From: pavane
Date: 06 Oct 01 - 06:19 PM

I have it on vinyl, and the gulls WERE wheeling, spinning.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: BALLAD OF A CRYSTA(by Donovan)
From: GUEST
Date: 03 Nov 04 - 07:10 AM

CAN ANYONE TAB BALLAD OF A CRYSTAL MAN? I AM DESPERATE FOR THIS FANTASTIC SONG!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Jersey Thursday (Donovan)
From: GUEST,donovan tabs, chords, and lyrics
Date: 14 Jul 08 - 02:46 PM

There is a new site called donochords that has a long list of his songs. Just google "donochords" or copy the address below and paste it in the address bar of your web browser.

http://www.donochords.com/

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Jersey Thursday (Donovan)
From: GUEST,Chris Griffiths
Date: 28 Jan 09 - 12:23 PM

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!

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Jersey Thursday (Donovan)
From: GUEST,dave
Date: 29 Jul 10 - 12:51 PM

Hi all. I have most of his song books, but work a lot out myself. The song sheets are rarely right anyways, Donovan uses a lot of chords that are only two strings, and loads of 7th's and 9ths.
He uses capo on 2nd, 3rd, and 4th fret a lot of times. But try this, capo on 3rd fret, normal tune, Am chord, take your 1st finger off, "In the tiny peice of coloured glass", then move to G chord, "my love was born", and so on, just mainly these two chords, it works great. In the middle bit, instrumental, drops 1st finger on to top E to do that bit, then up to B, then back to Am chord again, but with the 1st finger. Sounds bang on, the outro, he just plays on the E and B,. Hope this helps folks.