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Limehouse Blues

Words by Douglas Forber, Music by Philip Braham - 1922

Verse:
D	C              D	-	-
F#m	G#7(b5)   F#m	-	A7
D7	G	F#7	Bm
D	C              D	-             Gm	D
Chorus:
Bb9	-	G9	-
F	A7           Dm	G7	C7
Bb9	-	G7	-
F             D7	Gm	Bbm6      C7	F     (to chorus)
Ending:
F             D7	Gm	Bbm6      C7	F          (End)

8-beat intro.  Play 4-beats for each cell, reading from left to right.

Verse is in the key of D, chorus is in F.

Play: Verse, Chorus, Chorus, Ending.

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Verse:

In Limehouse,  Where Orientals love to play,

In Limehouse,  Where you can hear those blues all day,

And they seem all around,  Like along, long sigh,

Queer sob sound,  Oh Honey Lamb they seem to cry.

 

Chorus:

Oh! Limehouse kid,  Oh! Oh! Oh! Limehouse kid,  Going the way that the rest of them did,

Poor broken blossom and nobody's child,  Haunting and taunting you're just kind o' wild.

Oh! Oh! Oh! Limehouse blues,  I've the real Limehouse blues,  Can't seem to shake off those sad China blues,

Rings on your fingers and tears for your crown,  That is the story of old Chinatown.

 

Ending:

Rings on your fingers and tears for your crown,  That is the story of old Chinatown.

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Performer Links:

(webpage)

 

Watch the WineLand Banjo Band perform "Limehouse Blues" (youtube)

 

Jim plays "Limehouse Blues" in a medley (youtube, timestamp 3:20)

 

Listen to the Marin Banjo Club perform "Limehouse Blues" (youtube, timestamp 2:20)

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Arranged by Jim Bottorff

 

This Chord Chart may not appear correctly with some browsers.  It should be viewed with a full size window.  

The chord names should appear in single rows.   Let me know of any problems.

 

email: jbott@ix.netcom.com