WaltsBand.com logo and legend
WaltsBand.com logo and legend

Featuring the songs of Nick Sullivan

Demos, discussion, lyrics, sheet music

You’ve Been On My Mind

 
 

Album:  Songs Sung Sideways

11. You’ve Been On My Mind

Mental depression can bring about not just a sense of despondency but also a mental fog that confuses thought and makes taking remedial action even more difficult. It must be like that with the protagonist of this song. It’s obvious he’s down in the dumps, but sometimes it’s hard to know what he’s going on about.

"Never express yourself more clearly than you are able to think."
Niels Bohr (1885-1962)

The Song

Here’s a little number for those who like to dance, or more likely drink, to despondent ditties and lugubrious lays. The songwriter must never shirk from exploring painful emotions. Like many another song, You’ve Been On My Mind seems to be exploring the pleasurable narcissistic anguish of self-pity.

The Music

The nice thing about very slow songs is that you don’t have to write too many notes for each second of music, so the composition gets done faster and you have time to do something useful as well on the same day.

Lyrics and Chords

Verse 1

(Verse intro)

Eb  Cm  Fm9  Bb13  Eb

 

            Eb

I have been up and down,

            Bb7

I have been round and round,

     Eb              Cm

I’ve looked in every corner,

    Fm9            Bb13

But nothing have I found,

              Eb

You have been on my mind,

              Bb7

You have been on my mind,

Eb                   Cm

All the way down the highway

            Fm9 Bb13 Eb

You’ve been on   my  mind.

Verse 2

(Verse intro)

Eb  Cm  Fm9  Bb13  Eb

 

I have been high and low,

But everywhere I go

The more that people tell me,

The less I seem to know,

They say fate is kind,

They say love is blind,

They say you can’t get something for nothing,

But you’ve been on my mind.

Instrumental Bridge (2nd half of verse)

Eb  Bb7  Eb  Cm

Fm9  Bb13  Eb

Verse 3

You’ve got your dancing shoes,

I’ve got my walking blues,

I never could explain to you

The things I stand to lose,

They say time’s a wheel,

They say lies are real,

They say you’d better just take what they give you

But you’ve been on my mind.

Verse 4

(First four lines instrumental only)

Eb  Bb7  Eb  Cm  Fm9  Bb13

 

You have been on my mind,

You have been on my mind,

They say you’d better just stay where we put you

But you’ve been on my mind.

Please leave a comment