Paul | Guitar Lessons and Performance - Paul Elwood

Feelings

“Feelings” is a song by the Brazilian singer Morris Albert, who also wrote the lyrics. It was released in June 1974 on Albert’s debut album After We’ve Left Each Other. The song’s lyrics, recognizable by the “whoa whoa whoa” chorus, concern the singer’s inability to “forget [his] feelings of love”. Albert’s song was hugely successful, performing very well internationally.

The lyrics, which discuss the end of a romantic relationship, were inspired by a public figure from Rio de Janeiro with whom the musician had a platonically romantic relationship. In the original version, the instrumental track was recorded by the studio group Os Carbonos, who also provided the backing vocals.

Its success in Brazil came after the song was included on the soundtrack of the telenovela Corrida do Ouro (“Gold Rush“) in 1974. In the country, the single sold approximately 300,000 copies and reached number one on the Grande Parada Brasil chart, published by Amiga magazine.

Between 1974 and 1976, the song was a top ten hit on the music charts of several countries, including in the United States, where it reached number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 4 in Record World magazine, and number 10 in Cash Box, as well as the United Kingdom, where it reached No. 4.

In the United States, it sold three million copies, earning Albert a gold record certified by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also hit number 2 on the Adult […]

Paul2026-03-16T19:05:45-04:00

In The Pines

“In the Pines” (Roud 3421), also known as “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?”, “My Girl”, “Hey Girl”, or “Black Girl”, is a traditional American folk song originating from two songs, “In the Pines” and “The Longest Train”, both of whose authorship is unknown and date back to at least the 1870s. The songs originated in the Southern Appalachian area of the United States in the contiguous areas of East Tennessee and Kentucky, Western North Carolina and Northern Georgia.

Versions of the song have been recorded by many artists in numerous genres, but it was most often associated with American bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and American blues musician Lead Belly, both of whom recorded a version of the song in the 1940s, before achieving wide fame with the grunge band Nirvana.

Paul2026-04-08T18:24:20-04:00

Come As You Are

Download the come as you are PDF lesson

Download the chord and lyric sheet here:
Come as you are chords and lyrics

“Come as You Are” is a song by American rock band Nirvana, written by frontman and guitarist Kurt Cobain. It is the third track and the second single from the band’s second studio album Nevermind (1991), the single released in March 1992. It was the band’s second and final American Top 40 hit, reaching number 32 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was also their second UK Top 10 hit, reaching number 9 on the UK Singles Chart. The single reached the Top 10 in eight countries and the Top 40 in eleven further countries.

The unexpected success of the album’s lead single, “Smells Like Teen Spirit” drew Nirvana to mainstream success, with Nevermind being released two weeks after the single’s release. Following the album’s release, the band and its management company debated whether to release “Come as You Are” or “In Bloom” as the next single from the album due to Cobain’s concerns over similarity of the former with Killing Joke song “Eighties” (1984). After some persuasion by the management company, Cobain agreed to release “Come as You Are” as the second single because of […]

Paul2026-04-20T10:00:26-04:00

Silver Wings

Download the PDF chords and lyrics for Silver Wings

“After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music.” – Aldous Huxley

Paul2026-04-08T18:26:13-04:00

Momma Tried

“Mama Tried” is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Merle Haggard and The Strangers. It was released in July 1968 as the first single and title track from the album Mama Tried. The song became one of the cornerstone songs of his career. It won the Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1999, and was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry due to its “cultural, historic, or artistic significance” on March 23, 2016, just 14 days before Haggard’s death. In 2021, it was ranked at No. 376 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

Background

In “Mama Tried”, Haggard focuses on the pain and suffering he caused his own mother by being incarcerated in 1957 in San Quentin. Haggard ultimately served three years on a robbery conviction.

However, the song is not literally autobiographical, as many country music historians point out. While writer Bill Malone’s assessment of the song is in agreement with Ace Collins’ (referring to his own experiences that saw him sentenced to prison), Malone points out that Haggard never was sentenced to “life without parole,” as the protagonist in the song was. Still, the song’s lyrics, and the protagonist’s experiences, are heavily influenced by Haggard’s early life.

Paul2026-03-16T19:07:59-04:00

Whiskey in a Jar

whiskey in a jar

“Whiskey in the Jar” (Roud 533) is an Irish traditional song set in the southern mountains of Ireland, often with specific mention of counties Cork and Kerry. The song, about a rapparee (highwayman) who is betrayed by his wife or lover, is one of the most widely performed traditional Irish songs and has been recorded by numerous artists since the 1950s.

The song first gained wide exposure when Irish folk band the Dubliners performed it internationally as a signature song and recorded it on three albums in the 1960s. In the U.S., the song was popularised by the Highwaymen, who recorded it on their 1962 album Encore. Irish rock band Thin Lizzy hit the Irish and British pop charts with the song in 1973. In 1990, the Dubliners re-recorded the song with the Pogues with a faster rockish version charting at No. 63 in the UK. American metal band Metallica in 1998 played a version very similar to that of Thin Lizzy’s, though with a heavier sound, winning a Grammy for the song in 2000 for Best Hard Rock Performance.

“Do it again on the next verse and people think you meant it.” – Chet Atkins

Paul2026-04-08T18:26:54-04:00

Sweet Home Alabama

“Sweet Home Alabama” is a song by American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd, released on the band’s second album Second Helping (1974). It was written in response to Neil Young‘s songs “Southern Man” and “Alabama“, which the band felt blamed the entire Southern United States for slavery; Young is name-checked and dissed in the lyrics. It reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974, becoming the band’s highest-charting single.

The song remains a staple in Southern and classic rock, and, along with “Free Bird”, is arguably the band’s signature song.

The political lyrics of the song compare Richard Nixon and his Watergate scandal with the governor of Alabama George Wallace and his political supporters in Birmingham. The lyrics have been perceived as mocking the American liberals and their outrage at Nixon’s conduct.

“Inspiration may be a form of super consciousness, or perhaps of subconsciousness – I wouldn’t know. But I am sure it is the antithesis of self-consciousness.” – Aaron Copland

Paul2026-05-09T13:19:05-04:00

Edelweiss

“Anyone who loves music can never be quite unhappy.” – Franz Schubert

Paul2026-04-08T18:28:50-04:00

Hallellujah

“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.” – Plato

Paul2026-04-08T18:28:21-04:00

Trashy Women

“Trashy Women” is a song written by Chris Wall and recorded by American country music singer Jerry Jeff Walker in 1989 and later by the band Confederate Railroad. It reached number 63 on the US Country chart in 1989 for Walker, and was a number 10 country hit four years later from Confederate Railroad’s self-titled debut album.

According to legend, Walker was in the Million Dollar Cowboy Bar in Jackson, Wyoming one evening and heard either Wall (who was also a bartender at the bar) or Kip Attaway performing the song. He then asked whichever it was to come to his hotel room later to teach him the song.

“If only the whole world could feel the power of harmony.” -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Paul2026-04-19T09:02:24-04:00

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