Tonight You Belong to Me (The Jerk Version)

Lyle Ritz, Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters – Tonight You Belong to Me (Tab/Chords)

This is one of the definitive ukulele songs, yet it no two tab/chords seem to agree how to play it. There are at least two videos (1, 2) declaring that everyone else’s version are wrong and theirs is right. Well, everyone else is wrong and I’m right.

Seriously, though, I don’t think I’m dead on. The turnaround sections are packed with jazzy chords and tricky to get right.

First off, you’ll have to tune every string down half a step (I suppose you’d call it B tuning). But, to keep things simple, I’ve named the chords after their C tuning shapes.

The intro goes like this:

With the G string carrying the little melody.

The chords for the verse are based on a G chord with a descending note and a little filigree on the top string. At the end of the first verse, there’s little little lick (or something like it):

Similarly, there’s this at the end of the second verse:

After that is the, “Way down…” section and you get a break from the jazz chords. It’s mostly Cm with occasional slides up from Bm.

The chords for the trumpet solo are exactly the same as those in the verse.

You can get a solo version by Lyle Ritz (who played the Jerk version) in his Jumpin’ Jim’s Ukulele Masters book (he also has a new book out Lyle Lite. And don’t miss out on the Guthrie girls’ version of Tonight, You Belong to Me.

Portishead Deep Water

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: