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e|--0--| B|--1--| G|--2--| D|--2--| A|--0--| E|--0--|
e|--1--| B|--1--| G|--2--| D|--3--| A|--3--| E|--1--|
e|--0--| B|--1--| G|--0--| D|--2--| A|--3--| E|--x--|
e|--3--| B|--0--| G|--0--| D|--0--| A|--2--| E|--3--|
e|--1--| B|--3--| G|--2--| D|--0--| A|--x--| E|--x--|
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Open standard tuning — no capo. Concert key A Minor confirmed via Chordify audio analysis. Pending unified chord diagram approach for Guitar / Violin / Piano.
Classic waltz pattern: heavy ONE, light two-three. Let beat 1 ring — it anchors the loop. Drive pattern adds momentum into bridge sections.
David Lindley plays electric fiddle on this 2006 Live from Spain recording — a Celtic folk arrangement with Carlos Núñez on Galician whistle and Tino di Geraldo on cajón. Four sections below: chord tone warm-ups, a vocal melody skeleton, a Lindley-style fiddle approximation, and a directly audio-transcribed whistle line (Carlos Núñez) generated from a voice memo recording using Basic Pitch (Spotify). Notation renders using the abcjs library. Items flagged ⚠️ are approximations — verify against the recording. The whistle transcription (Section ④) is from actual audio — treat as a starting reference.
① Chord Tones — 8-Note Practice Lick · Up & Down (A Minor · Treble Clef)For each chord: 4 notes ascending from root, then 4 notes descending back — a complete 8-note lick that locks in the sound and the intonation of each chord change. Play through all six before starting the song. Bowing: smooth legato on the way up, slightly more weight on the way down to feel the gravity of the chord. Listen for each interval.
Chord tones exact — A natural minor (Aeolian), no sharps or flats. Each lick: root up to octave, back down to root. 8 notes, 2 bars of 4/4 at your warm-up tempo. When they're clean and in tune, the song will feel easy.
② Vocal Melody — For Violin Lead (A Minor · 3/4) ⚠️ Approximate — learn by ear from the recording, use this as a reference skeletonMelody shown for one full verse + refrain. Transpose to violin lead: play the melody in place of, or in dialogue with, the vocal. The Celtic waltz feel calls for a slightly lilting bow — lean into beat 1.
③ Fiddle Countermelody — Lindley Style · Instrumental Sections (3/4) ⚠️ Stylistic approximation — adapt freely from the Love Is Strange recording. Lindley's actual part is more ornamented and improvised.Lindley's fiddle plays above the vocal register, weaving a Celtic countermelody. The notation above is a stripped-down skeleton — add slides, grace notes, and vibrato as you learn the recording by ear.
④ Galician Whistle — Carlos Núñez · Audio Transcribed from Voice MemoTranscribed from a voice memo recording of the Love Is Strange performance using Basic Pitch (Spotify's open-source audio-to-MIDI tool). Captures the Carlos Núñez Galician whistle line from the densest instrumental section (~4:10–4:42 in the recording). The whistle plays in A6–E6 range; the violin transposition below drops it one octave into comfortable violin range (A5–E5). The Celtic ornamental character — the repeated-note figures, the high B→A→E opening, the A→C→D→E ascending runs — is directly from the audio.
Original Galician whistle register — too high for violin but shows the actual ornamentation and phrase shape.
Same melody down one octave — sits in violin's mid-upper register (A5–E4). Ready to play as written. Add Celtic ornaments (grace notes, slides, col legno) as you learn the phrase by ear.
e e d e) are whistle ornaments — on violin, play these as a rapid light bow stroke (spiccato or martelé) or as a single note with a grace-note trill. The long sustained notes (A5, b3) are bowed legato with slight vibrato. The descending b→a→e opening is the hook — play it cleanly and let beat 1 ring.
Apple Music shows synced lyrics as the song plays. Paste the full lyrics below for offline reference — saved automatically across sessions.
Personal lyric notes — delivery, phrasing, breath marks:Written in 1962 by Sydney Carter — the English poet-songwriter also responsible for "Lord of the Dance" — "The Crow on the Cradle" is a Cold War anti-war lullaby told from the point of view of a parent watching a world arm itself around their newborn child. Carter wrote it as a dark inversion of a nursery rhyme: soothing melody, devastating words.
Jackson Browne adopted it as part of his own folk repertoire and performed it memorably at the No Nukes concert in 1979, with Graham Nash and David Lindley. The Love Is Strange version — recorded live in Spain in 2006 — transforms it again: Lindley's electric fiddle and Carlos Núñez's Galician whistle give it a fully Celtic character that links the song back to its English folk roots.
The Grammy-nominated album (Best Contemporary Folk Album, 2011) captures the three musicians playing in total musical trust, and "The Crow on the Cradle" is its quiet, devastating centerpiece — the stillest moment in a set of beautiful restlessness.
Your notes — personal connection to this song: