Portishead Deep Water
April 1, 2008 · Print This Article
Portishead - Deep Water (Chords) *Link fixed
Hear the song on ilovefizzypop.
Portishead doing a song on the ukulele? Surely an April Fools joke? No. True fact. You won’t find any April Fools jokes on here. I find scheduled anarchy rather dispiriting. I prefer to parcel out misinformation all year round. What’s the April Fools version of Scrooge?
As Andy pointed out, the song is a blatant rip off of Tonight You Belong to Me (made famous by Steve Martin in The Jerk). The chords move in a very similar way. Both songs use the chorder I - I7 - I6 - Iaug - I - V - I in the verses and head for the IVm chord in the next section.
There are only two differences between the version in The Jerk and the Portishead song. First is in key (and that’s only one fret different). Deep Water is played in the F position but tuned up half a step (or capoed at the first fret). Second, the Portishead version isn’t so well played.
The introduction is very similar in that it involves the sus4. Deep Water adds the sus four by moving from the second to the third fret on the G string. He uses this same move with other chords in the sequence later in the song. To keep the chord sheet simple, I haven’t written all these out.
Like Tonight…, there are a few little fills in the song. This one, or something like it, crops up after, “…self doubting again.”
And this little twiddle at the end:
If this is your first visit here, you can find the chords/tab in those posts by clicking on the song title in red.
your link to the actual chords for the Portishead song isn’t working right now :( other than that, good times.
Thanks, Andrew. Should be fixed now.
[...] picking up the ukulele for his latest album isn’t quite as incongruous as the likes of Portishead and Panic at the Disco using the uke, but it’s certainly an unexpected [...]
[...] was quite a month for albums with unexpected ukulele tracks. As well as Portishead’s Deep Water and Van Morrison’s Keep It Simple, there was Panic at the Disco’s I Have Friends in [...]
Hi,
nice article(s) even for a non-ukelele-but-guitar-player.
thanks for so many useful information.
keep on!
Thanks for the kind words, Brumo. I will keep on. And it’s about time you got a ukulele.
totally ripping off “tonight you belong to me”!
mike: If you’re going to rip off a uke song, it may as well be that one.
hallo! thanks very much for the tab, I love this song. the thing is, I’m not sure about the fsus4 - I think I might hear something different. any chance you could give it a second listen? I’m hopeless at figuring these things out…
athena: Sounds right to me. Any suggestions?
I think it’s meant to be F7 instead of Fsus4 for the second chord in the verse.
Gav: Yes, you’re right. Thanks.
People are so righteously indignant nowadays . Assume everyone has watched “the jerk” (even I, who really like steve martin haven’t seen it!). Always quick to blame someone for stealing something. : ) Especially with braghuinas/ukuleles, these chord progressions have been worn out over the past century and a half. Where do you think steve martin got that song from?
V: I think he got it from Billy Rose and Lee David.