THE KEY

This is one of my favourite songs by Richie Havens. It was written by him and has a relaxed, tuneful, rhythmic feel about it. Check out the lyrics of the last verse

Tuning	D	A	D	F#	A	D

I = 	Index finger
M =	Middle finger 
T =	Thumb
L =	Little finger

Chords for the song

Bm7								A suspension	
  D	  A	  D	  F#	  A	  D			  D	  A  	  D	  F#	  A 	  D
  T	   T	  T				Fret 9	  T	  T	  T 	  T			Fret 7

Thumb bars bottom 3 strings 9th fret			Thumb bars bottom 4 strings 7th fret

G suspension						F#m							

D	  A	  D	  F#	  A	  D			D	  A	  D	  F#	  A	  D
	
T	  T	  T	  T	  T		Fret 5 			  	  I			Fret 3
								T	  T	  T		 M	  M	Fret 4

Thumb bars bottom 5 strings 5th Fret			Thumb bars Bottom 3 strings 4th fret
								 Index finger holds down 3rd string 3rd fret
								 Middle finger holds down 1st and 2nd strings 4th fret
								
Em								D

D	  A	  D	  F#	  A	  D			D	  A	  D	  F#	  A	  D
			  I			Fret 1	all strings open
T	  T	  T		  M	  M	Fret 2

Fingering similar to F#m 
		
A7sus4 (known by Richie as the “mystery chord”)		A7

D	  A	  D	  F#	  A	  D			D	  A	  D	  F#	  A	  D
			    I 	    I	     I 	Fret 5						   I 	Fret 5
 -	  - 	  -	  -	  - 	  -			 -	  -	  -	  -	  -	  -
T	  T	  T			        	Fret 7 	T	T	  T	  T	  T		Fret 7

Thumb bars bottom 3 strings 7th fret			Thumb bars bottom 5 strings 7th fret
Index finger holds down top 3 strings 5th fret		Index finger holds down 1st string 5th fret

Intro

Bm7	Play one deliberate down stroke (each string should be heard) followed by a similar up 	stroke. Follow this by a few bars strummed on the top strings.

Now follow this with a mainly descending run of chords in the following order:-

Bm7 		A suspension	G suspension F#m	Em	A7Sus4	A7		

Use the following strumming pattern for each chord to begin with:-

DD	UDU	(note that the last upstroke is actually played between chord changes)

Richie plays a few more strums than this at times but this pattern seems to work throughout the song.

The Song

Somewhere 	there is 	a key
F#m			G7					D

It is laid		behind a golden tree
F#m			G7					D

To open		even me
F#m			G7					D

Before the 		last fires glow
Em			A7sus4				A7

Somewhere	there is a door
F#m			G7					D

It is 			closed for evermore
F#m			G7					D

To all			the little things we swore
F#m			G7					D

Allegiance		to
Em			A7sus4				A7

Just between me and you
Bm

Bm7	A suspension	G suspension	F#m	Em	A7sus4	A7
(same strumming pattern as above)

Somewhere there is a place
Where the heart meets face to face
With the whole human race
Before the last shadows fall

Somewhere there is no time
Common ground, a nursery rhyme
We will all pay the fine
The Shakespeare line, to be or not to be
Just between you and me

Bm7	A suspension	G suspension	F#m	Em	A7sus4	A7

F#m	A7	F#m	A7	F#m	A7 Em	A7sus4	A7

Somewhere there is a chance
No escape, a tribal dance
No one breaks the common trance
A global glance, at freedom’s plea

Somewhere there are no lies
Truth and beauty still survive
All the days of our lives
The sun will rise and show us the way
Just between you and me

This is followed by 2 extended, improvised repeats of the descending run of chords returning to Bm7 and repeating the “Just between you and me”