I A M A C H I L D - Buffalo Springfield (Neil Young) Words and music by Neil Young. On Buffalo Springfield's last album Last Time Around, 1968. In Dm / D, as recorded (the recording is a bit flat of concert pitch). Intro chords, with G (not D) harmonica: Dmaj7 Em D G D Dm C Am F 1. I am a child... I'll last awhile. Dm F C Em You can't conceive of the pleasure in my smile. Dm C Am F You hold my hand... rough up my hair... Dm Dm7 D It's lots of fun to have you there. REFRAIN: Dmaj7 Em D God gave to you, now you give to me. G D I'd like to know what you've learned... Dmaj7 Em D The sky is blue and so is the sea. Am7 C What is the color... when black is burned...? Am7 D What is the color...? Dm C Am F 2. You are a man... you understand. Dm F C Em You pick me up and you lay me down again. Dm C Am F You make the rules... you say what's fair. Dm Dm7 D It's lots of fun to have you there. REFRAIN: Dmaj7 Em D I gave to you, now you give to me. G D I'd like to know what you've learned... Dmaj7 Em D The sky is blue and so is the sea. Am7 C What is the color... when black is burned...? Am7 D What is the color...? Dm C Am F 3. I am a child... I last awhile. Dm F C Em You can't conceive of the pleasure in my smile... [fade out] editor's notes: LYRICS: From my several-years-old transcription, which came from a song book. Verified against recording and against transcription on the HyperRust site [ http://hyperrust.org ]. Confidence: 95% CHORDS: Straightforward, and all are the familiar first-position inversions, save the two treble chords for the refrain. Confidence: 95% Last Time Around (1968) is Buffalo Springfield's third album, after Buffalo Springfield and Buffalo Springfield Again. It was followed by the posthumous compilation Retrospective, released in 1969. Chords for refrain: Cross-pick them, starting with the open D string. Try hammering on the note in parentheses () for each of the first two chords, as someone does on the recording. I used to think of the Dmaj7 as F#m/d, but surely it makes better sense as Dmaj7. Dmaj7(6) Em /d(4) D x x O x x O x O O ============= ============= ============= | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------- ----------- ----------- | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | O | O ----------- ----------- ----------- | | | | | | | | | | | O | | | | O | ----------- ----------- ----------- | | | | | | | | | O | | | | | | | | ----------- ----------- ----------- | | | | | O | | | | O () | | | | | | ----------- ----------- ----------- | | | O | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------- | | | | O () ----------- | | | | | | Bonus track: I'm Only Waiting Till the Morning Comes (from After the Goldrush) C F I'm only waitin' till the mornin' comes... Dm G Till the mornin' comes... Dm G Till the mornin' comes... C F I'm gonna give you till the mornin' comes... Dm G Till the mornin' comes... Dm G Till the mornin' comes... - transcribed by WA, years ago, and 11 Oct 1998. Last edited 12 May 2003. Formatting last tweaked 12 May 2003.