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Guitar Tab for Rainy Night House by Joni Mitchell

D
A
D
F
A
D

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Rainy Night House - Joni Mitchell

Found on:
Joni Mitchell Archives, Vol. 3: The Asylum Years (1972–1975)(2023-10-06)
The Asylum Albums (1972-1975)(2022-09-23)
The Asylum Albums (1972–1975)(2022-09-23)
Archives - Volume 2: The Reprise Years (1968–1971)(2021-11-12)
The Reprise Albums (1968–1971)(2021-06-25)
The Studio Albums: 1968–1979(2013-02-12)
Some Love Songs(2005-09-01)
Big Yellow Taxi(1999)
Ladies of the Canyon(1996)
Miles of Aisles(1990)
1974-03-24: Cameron Stadium, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
Ghosts
Mississippi River Festival 1969
The Reprise Albums (1968-1971)
Note from Sue:  Rainy Night House is a song that Joni plays on piano.  
Gerald Hillman has transcribed it in open tuning for guitar.  
Thanks Gerald!!


The Chord Shapes:

 Dm            Bb(B flat)   Am7        A         Gsus      G
 O                          XO        
 ======        ======       ======     ======    ======    ======
 |***** 12     ****** 8     ||**** 5   ****** 7  ****** 5  ****** 5
 ||||||        |||*||       ||||||     |||*||    ||||||    |||*||
 ||||||        ||||||       |||***     ||||||    |||*||    ||||||

 C             F            Am         Bb6       Asus
 ======        ======       ======     ======    ======
 ****** 10     ****** 3     ****** 7   ****** 8  ****** 7
 |||*||        |||*||       ||||||     |||*||    ||||||
 ||||||        ||||||       ||||||     ||||*|    |||*||



|Dm            |Dm             |Dm              |Dm
|              |               |                |
|              |               |                |

|Dm            |Bb             |Am7             |A
|    It was a  |   rainy night | we took a taxi | to your mother's 
|              |               |                |

|Dm                |Bb         |Am7                    |A
|home. She went to |Florida    |and left you with your |father's gun
|                  |           |                       |

|Dm                |Gsus           |G               |C
|alone. Upon her   |small white    |bed.            |I fell in-
|                  |               |                |

|F                 |Bb             |Dm               |C
|-to a dream.      |  You sat up   |all the night and| you watched me
|                  |               |                 |

|Am                |Am                |G             |G         
| just to see      |who in the world I| might be.    |           
|                  |                  |              |

|Dm                |Dm                |Dm            |Dm
|                  |                  |              |
|                  |                  |              |

|Dm                |Bb                |Am7           |A
|  I am from the   |Sunday school     |I sing suprano|in the upstairs
|                  |                  |              |

|Dm                |Bb6               |Asus          |A
| choir            |   (choir voices) |              |
|                  |                  |              |


|Dm                |Gsus              |G             |C
|     You are a    |   holy           |man           |on the FM
|                  |                  |              |

|F           |Bb             |Dm                  |C
|radio       | I sat up      |all the night and I | listened to thee
|            |               |                    |

|Am          |Am                   |G             |G
|just to see |who in the world you |might be.     |(and what you might
|            |                     |              |

|Dm          |Dm                   |Dm            |Dm
|mean to me.)|                     |              |        
|            |                     |              |

|Dm           |Bb         |Am7                    |A     
|You called me| beautiful.|You called your mother.| She was very 
|             |           |                       |

|Dm                        |Bb               |Am7
|tanned. So you packed your|tent and went to | live out in the
|                          |                 |

|A            |Dm               |Gsus        |G
| Arizona     | sand. You are a | re--fu--   |-gee
|

|C              |F              |Bb           |Dm
|from a wealthy | family        | You gave up | all your father's golden
|               |               |             |

|C             |Am             |Am                  |G 
| factories    | just to see   |who in the world you| might be...
|              |               |                    |

|G             |Dm             |Dm                  |Dm            |
|(who in the   |  world)       |:                   |             :|
|              |               |                    | (fade out)   |


**********************************************************************
NOTE: I've transcribed this as sort of a combination of "Ladies Of The 
Canyon" and "Miles Of Aisles" versions. On guitar, it sounds closer to 
the "Miles Of Aisles" version, and therefore, I've written the lyrics as 
Joni sings them on "Miles Of Aisles". I didn't include the lead break.

The Dm chord is played (mostly) as a harmonic on the 12th fret with the
6th string (low D) played open to give it a deep, heavy bass. Play D (6th)
string (either open or as a harmonic) followed by an upstroke harmonic on
strings 1-5. Ocassionally (as you hear it), you may want to play the Dm
chord fully open. Personally, I mostly use the harmonic form. 

Example of my chord charts:

X = muted string
O = open string

Am7      <-chord name
XO       <-6th string muted, 5th string open 
======   <-nut/head/top of guitar
||**** 7 <-fret number /(bar with 1st finger)
||||||   <-no fingers
|||***   <-bar with 3rd finger

DADFAD Resources

More DADFAD Resources

Tuning Map

  • Fret
  • S6
  • S5
  • S4
  • S3
  • S2
  • S1
  • -13
  • D#
  • G#
  • C#
  • F#
  • A#
  • D#
  • -12
  • E
  • A
  • D
  • G
  • B
  • E
  • -11
  • F
  • A#
  • D#
  • G#
  • C
  • F
  • -10
  • F#
  • B
  • E
  • A
  • C#
  • F#
  • -9
  • G
  • C
  • F
  • A#
  • D
  • G
  • -8
  • G#
  • C#
  • F#
  • B
  • D#
  • G#
  • -7
  • A
  • D
  • G
  • C
  • E
  • A
  • -6
  • A#
  • D#
  • G#
  • C#
  • F
  • A#
  • -5
  • B
  • E
  • A
  • D
  • F#
  • B
  • -4
  • C
  • F
  • A#
  • D#
  • G
  • C
  • -3
  • C#
  • F#
  • B
  • E
  • G#
  • C#
  • -2
  • D
  • G
  • C
  • F
  • A
  • D
  • -1
  • D#
  • G#
  • C#
  • F#
  • A#
  • D#
  • 0
  • E
  • A
  • D
  • G
  • B
  • E
  • 1
  • F
  • A#
  • D#
  • G#
  • C
  • F
  • 2
  • F#
  • B
  • E
  • A
  • C#
  • F#
  • 3
  • G
  • C
  • F
  • A#
  • D
  • G
  • 4
  • G#
  • C#
  • F#
  • B
  • D#
  • G#
  • 5
  • A
  • D
  • G
  • C
  • E
  • A
  • 6
  • A#
  • D#
  • G#
  • C#
  • F
  • A#
  • 7
  • B
  • E
  • A
  • D
  • F#
  • B
  • -2
  • 0
  • 0
  • -2
  • -2
  • -2
            ___________
           q o       o p
           q o   G   o p
           d o   T   o b
           q o   D   o p
           q o   B   o p
           d o       o b
            \!       !/
            |=========|
            |!!!!!!!!!|
            |!!!!!!!!!|
            |!!!!!!!!!|              ____    ______  ____    ____
            |!!!!!!!!!|             /\  _`\ /\__  _\/\  _`\ /\  _`\
            |!!!!!!!!!|             \ \ \L\_\/_/\ \/\ \ \/\ \ \ \L\ \
           _|!!!!!!!!!|__            \ \ \L_L  \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \  _ <'
         .+=|!!!!!!!!!|--.`.          \ \ \/, \ \ \ \ \ \ \_\ \ \ \L\ \
       .'   |!!!!!!!!!|   `.\          \ \____/  \ \_\ \ \____/\ \____/
      /     !=========!     \\          \/___/    \/_/  \/___/  \/___/
      |    /|!!!!!!!!!|\    ||
       \   \!!!!!!!!!!!/   //
        )   `========='   ((
      .'    !!!!!!!!!!!    `..
     /      !!!!!!!!!!!      \\
    |       !!!!!!!!!!!       ||
    |       !!!!!!!!!!!       ||
    |       !!!!!!!!!!!       ||
     \     =============     //
 hjw  `.    o987654321o    .;'
 & warm `-._____________.-'
    whisky