Well, it ain't exactly The Little Drummer Boy, but this is my holiday
offering, the last tab of the year. After exchanging gifts you can sing
this rockin' little musical guilt trip to completely alter the mood!

The intro riff is one of those things that are so natural and easy to
play on guitar that it's hard to believe no one else has thought of it
first.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

If Not Now, When?


(Intro:)

  E--|0--0----|0--0----|0--0----|0--0--0-|-
  B--|0--0----|0--0----|0--0----|0--0--0-|-
  G--|9--8----|6--7----|9--8----|6--7--7-|-
  D--|9--9----|7--7----|9--9----|7--7--7-|-
  A--|--------|--------|--------|--------|-
  E--|0--0----|0--0----|0--0----|0--0--0-|-


  -|0--0----|00-0----|00-0---0|---0----|-
  -|0--0----|00-0----|00-0---0|---0----|-
  -|9--8----|77-6----|55-4---2|---1----|-
  -|9--9----|77-7----|55-5---2|---2----|-
  -|--------|--------|--------|--------|-
  -|0--0----|00-0----|00-0---0|---0----|-


(*1)
G/A (A9sus4)
Someone stuck me on the losing side
Everything is someone else's fault
We're not good enough for me to care

(*2)
And the mantra is

(*3)
E    E#11 E               E E#11  E
"Too much effort, there's never time"
         E    E#11  E       E    E#11    E
And your sole solution is a high pitched whine
         A   B/A A           B/A A  B/A A
It's not red-hot coals, it's not busted glass
       B/A A   B/A  A     B/A  A     B/A  A
There's no Mau-Maus after your sweet pink ass


(*4)
   D  G   E   E     D  G   E   E     D  G   E   E
So if not now when, if not now when, if not now when?
   D   A    G/A G
If not you, who then?

No one wants to be the first to fail
I won't play unless you guard my back
And the mantra is

"Change the system, and please arrange it
To change some way that I feel no change"
It's not flaming necklaces, household spies
There's no market bombings, no bullets fly

(chorus)

(chords here are as in intro)
Bosnia, Bosnia
Try spelling "Herzegovina"
Where money talks and bullshit walks
The bullet or the ballet box

Babylon, oh Babylon
We babble on in Babylon
The TV blows, the music sucks
The bullet or the ballot box

We're not good enough for me to care
And the mantra is

"Leave the gun on the table loaded
The first to grab it's as good as voted in"

(2nd half of intro)
(chorus)

---------------------------------------------------------


(*1) Strum the G through hi-E strings open, while playing the bass
     melody on the A and D strings. This melody can be improvised
     upon - the chord istelf is so cloudy that you don't have to
     worry too much about defining a strong tonality, although it
     strike me as being a sort-of A chord with no 3rd.

  E--|00-0----|00-0-0--|00-0----|00-0-0--|-
  B--|00-0----|00-0-0--|00-0----|00-0-0--|-
  G--|00-0----|00-0-0--|00-0----|00-0-0--|-
  D--|00-0----|00-0-2--|00-0----|00-0-2--|-
  A--|24------|24------|24------|24------|-
  E--|--------|--------|--------|--------|-


(*2) time sig is still 4/4, but this linking melody is played (and sung
     in triplets.

         /-3-\ /-3-\
       -|-----------|-
       -|-----------|-
   4/4 -|----------2|-
       -|--------0--|-
       -|--0-2-4----|-
       -|-----------|-


(*3)
     E       E#11                        E       E#11       E
   o___oo   o___xo                     ox__oo   ox__oo    ox  oo
  1|||1||  1||||||    a variation     1|||1||  1||||||   4|||1||
   |23|||   |23|||    I like --->      ||2|||   ||||||    ||||||
   ||||||   |||4||                     ||||||   |||1||    ||3|||
   ||||||   ||||||                     ||||||   ||2|||    ||||||


    A         B/A       A
   o___o    xo___o    xo   o
 1||||||   1||||||   5||||1|
  ||111|    ||||||    |||2||
  ||||||    ||||||    ||3|||
  ||||||    ||111|    ||||||

(*4)

   If       not    now, when /  if     not      you      who      then
    D        G        E         D        A       G/A      G        G/A
                    o   oo   xo____   xo____   xoooo_   _xooo_   xoooo_
 7||111|  7||111|  7|1||||  1||||||   ||||||   ||||||   ||||||   ||||||
  ||||||   ||||2|   ||||||   ||111|   ||111|   ||||||   ||||||   ||||||
  ||||||   ||3|||   ||34||   ||||2|   ||||||   ||||||   2|||||   ||||||
  ||||||   ||||||   ||||||   ||3|||   ||||||   ||||||   ||||||   ||||||


Notes:


This message should be displayed in a mono-spaced font, or the chord
diagrams and tabs will look ugly ugly.

When you see something like "(*2)", see the corresponding note at the
bottom.

The letter to the left of the slash in chord names like "A/D" refers
to a triad, and the letter to the right refers to the bass note only.

The number directly to the left of the chord diagram is the position
on the guitar neck (or closest fret). "x" along the top means mute or
deaden that string, "o" means let it ring open.

Please e-mail me with any ideas for change or improvement.

-- 
     ...Lin Sprague...
     lsprague@user1.channel1.com -OR- lsprague@crater.ma02.bull.com