Description

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“Way Down Now” is a song by British musical group World Party. It was released at the first single for their 1990 album Goodbye Jumbo. The song contains a nod to “Sympathy for the Devil” by the Rolling Stones. When released as a single in 1990, the song topped the US Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart, reached No. 21 on the Album Rock Tracks chart, and peaked at No. 10 in the Netherlands.

World Party  –  Way Down Now
Label: Ensign  ENYX 634
Format: Vinyl, 12″
Country: UK
Released: 1990
Genre: Rock, Indie Rock
Tracklist
A Way Down Now (Remix)
B1 Way Down Now (7″ Mix)
B2 Watching And Waiting
B3 S.E.X.
Producer, Written By Karl Wallinger

World Party is a British pop/alternative rock band, which is essentially the solo project of its sole member, Karl Wallinger. He started the band in 1986 in London after leaving The Waterboys.

Charts position: “Way Down Now” released August 1990:  #66 UK, #1 US Modern Rock
Chart (1990) Peak position
Canada Top Singles (RPM) 53
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40) 10
Netherlands (Single Top 100) 17
UK Singles (OCC) 66
US Alternative Airplay (Billboard) 1
US Mainstream Rock (Billboard) 21

Karl is the bomb!!! nuff said!!! Its sad that he never became mainstream…. but I guess its? kind of a blessing in disguise for us… he is our waterfall, our oasis, that only a few of us can understand and fully appreciate…. his genius!!! Playing guitar left-handed without reversing the guitar strings… WHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT????­???

A great ramshackle rocker from Karl Wallinger’s World Party continuing his common theme of disaffection with society set to a rollicking Stonesy groove with the stick-on “Whoo Whoo” vocals cribbed from “Sympathy For The Devil” as if to emphasise that little has changed in the intervening years.

World Party Band Takes Old Music, Makes New Waves
May 22, 1990|By Greg Kot, Rock music critic.
Karl Wallinger and his band, World Party, are rock `n` roll pirates, and proud of it.

They plunder the past for buried treasure-a George Harrison guitar riff, a Mick Jagger vocal inflection, a Motown bass line-and make it their own.

At Cabaret Metro on Sunday night, before an audience that included his friend, an incognito Sinead O`Connor, the 32-year-old Wallinger made it all seem like a lot of fun.

And why not?

Most everybody from his generation remembers the Rolling Stones`

“Sympathy for the Devil“ but just to make sure, Wallinger has rewritten it as the propulsive “Way Down Now.“

Even more delightful is that Wallinger doesn`t try to disguise his thievery.

As “Way Down Now“ chugs to a conclusion, the seven-member World Party breaks into a chorus of “woo-hoos“ that directly mimics the Stones` classic. With a wink and an amiable smile, the singer drops a quote from the Marvelletes` “Please Mr. Postman“ into “When the Rainbow Comes“ or shakes his head in Beatles` mop-top fashion for the final chorus of “All Come True.“

Sometimes he gets too clever for his own good.

“Is It Too Late“ started promisingly enough with a spare, Bo Diddley guitar riff, but was quickly overwhelmed by electronic percussion.

But the song also cuts to the essence of Wallinger`s approach: Use the past to re-invent the present.

For the most part, he succeeded. Rather than create a variation of a sound-commonplace in pop circles these days, whether it`s dance music, rap or rock-Wallinger prefers to treat each song as an aural sculpture, unique unto itself.

As a result, the Welshman has a earned a reputation as a studio whiz, especially on his two World Party albums, “Private Revolution“ (from 1986)

and the new “Goodbye Jumbo“ (Ensign).

When his record label needed someone to produce the first demo tape for an untested Sinead O`Connor a few years ago, Wallinger got the job and helped O`Connor get a deal.

Less certain was how well Wallinger`s act would hold up outside of his private studio world.

On Sunday, he proved that he`s a fine singer and a dextrous multi-instrumentalist (guitar, keyboards, bass) who`s capable of taking his creations to a new level in concert.

A taut, stripped down version of “Ship of Fools“ was driven by Wallinger`s melodic bass line, and his inspired reading of the soulful “Take It Up“ was reminiscent of a younger, hungrier Van Morrison.

Though Wallinger`s lyrics often are laced with irony or outright cynicism, the mood of Sunday`s show was buoyant and light-hearted. It`s not so much the substance of a World Party performance that lingers afterward, but the sugar-coating: the chorus of “la-la-las“ in “When the Rainbow Comes“ or the lustrous “aaahh“ that leads into the final verse of “Put the Message in the Box.“

It`s a litany of guilty pleasures that makes the pop past seem new again.

Song: Way down now
Artist: World Party
Composer: Karl wallinger
Album: Goodbye Jumbo
 
Tabbed by DJ ('DiddyD' at ultimateGuitar.com) 4th Nov 2016
 
CAPO: 3rd fret (Will then sound in the recorded key of Bb)
 
NOTE:  Please IGNORE ANY POP-UP CHORD BOXES the website
might automatically suggest, and use the typed shapes
shown below:
 
Chord names and fret positions are relative to the capo:
D6 = xx0432   D     = xx0232   Em    = 022000
D  = xx0232   A     = x02220   F#m   = 244222
A6 = x02222   G     = 320003   Asus2 = x02200
G6 = 320000   Dsus2 = xx0230   Gsus2 = 320203
                               D/F#  = 200232
 
Please select a star rating for this tba, many thanks
 
============================================================
 
[Intro]
     D6 D     D6    A6    G6
||:  /  /  /  /  |  /  /  /  /  :||[x3]
 
   D
|  /  /  /  /  |  /  /  /  /  | 
 
[Verse 1]
A                     G
   Inside my TV eye,     never stop to wonder why...
       D
...I'm way down now, I'm way down now,
     A
Some faceless get on the screen,
         G
The most honest man I've ever seen,
    D
I'm way down now, I'm way down now!
 
[Chorus]
          D6 D          A6            G6   D6 D        A6 G6
Won't you   ...show me, ...something true    ...today?
           D6   D  D6  A6       G6             D Dsus2 D
C'mon, and show me,    anything   ...but this!
 
[Verse 2]
A                           G
   She took us by the hand,  ...Hell was the promised land,
    D
I'm way down now, I'm way down now,
A                          G
   I'm lying by the road, 'cause she cut off all my clothes,
    D
I'm way down now, I'm way down now!
 
[Chorus]
          D6 D          A6            G6   D6 D        A6 G6
Won't you   ...show me, ...something true    ...today?
           D6   D  D6  A6        G6              D
C'mon, and show me,    anything   ...but this!
 
[Verse 3]
Em F#m G                       A
         Inside my future eye,...what I see just makes me cry,
    D                 G
I'm way down now, I'm way down now,
    G
The clocks will all run backwards,
         A                  Asus2   A
All the sheep will have two heads,
D                                D/F#   G
Thursday night, and Friday, will be  on Tuesday night instead
 
[Verse 4]
            G
And all the times will keep on changing,
        A                  Asus2    A
And the movement will in - crease,
            D
And there's something about the living, babe,
D/F#  G
That  sends me off my feet
 
[Verse 5]
        G
There's breeding in the sewers,
        A                 Asus2  A
And the rats are on their way,
        D                         G
They're clouding up the images of ...my perfect day,
      G                          A
And I know, I'm not alone, and I know I'm not alone,
      D                      Dsus2  D
And I know I'm not a - lone--------!
 
 
[Break]
     D6 D     D6    A6    G6
||:  /  /  /  /  |  /  /  /  /  :||[x3]
 
D6 D     D6  A6        G6
             Anything,    ...but this!
D
   (Can you hear me?)
 
[Verse 6]
         A             Asus2 A
I said,   ...inside my TV    eye,
G                 Gsus2  G
    Never stop to wonder why...
       D
...I'm way down now, I'm way down now,
          A                  Asus2   A
Then some faceless get comes on   my screen,
         G               Gsus2 G
The most honest man I've ever  seen,
    D
I'm way down now, I'm way down now
 
[Solo]
  A   Asus2 A   G   Gsus2 G   D   Dsus2 D       Dsus2 D
| /  /  /  /  | /  /  /  /  | /  /  /  /  | /  /  /  /  |
 
  A   Asus2 A   G   Gsus2 G   D   Dsus2 D       Dsus2 D
| /  /  /  /  | /  /  /  /  | /  /  /  /  | /  /  /  /  |
 
     A         Asus2   A     G        Gsus2  G
||:     (Hoo - hoo-------!      Hoo - hoo------!
     D         Dsus2   D     D        Dsus2  D
         Hoo - hoo-------!      Hoo - hoo------!) :||[x2]
 
[Coda]
      A     Asus2 A              G         Gsus2   G
||:                    Something new,
     (Hoo - hoo-------!               Hoo - hoo------!)
 
          D            Dsus2  D         Dsus2 D
Something true! (Hoo - hoo-----,  hoo - hoo-----!) :||[Repeat]