There are a lot of versions of this song floating about, from various live shows. Jeff obviously played it a lot. It is not included on the Sketches album, and in fact Jeff has said he didn't plan to record a studio version, but he obviously liked playing it live as it features on many tapes of live performances. (It is sometimes listed as "Such A Long Time", and even, I think, "World Gone Cold".)
The story goes that it was really Chris Dowd's song (Dowd is from the band Fishbone) and Jeff helped him write some of it -- probably the weird middle 8!! (Which means that we can all ease up on presuming that the song is Jeff's lament to his parents.) The rest of the song is quite conventional, just G major, F major and C major.
intro: G F C
G
it's been such a long time and i was just a child then
F
what will you say when you
C
see my face
G
time feels like its flown away, the days just pass and fade away
F
what will you say when they
C
take my place
G
its funny now, i just don't feel like i'm a man
F
what will you say
C
when you see my face
G
my face
F C
G F C
laaaa, laaa, etc... (chorus bit)
G
mother dear, the world's gone cold, no-one cares about love anymore
F
what will you say when you've
C
seen my face
G
father do you hear me, do you know me, do you even care
F
what will you say when you
C
take my place
(chorus bit again)
G
my heart can't take it anymore
F
what will you say when you
C
see my face
Em D Bb C/Bb/C Em D/F# G (A)
I can feel your time crawling
Bb A F/G/F/G
to a slow end
Em D Bb C/Bb/C Em D/F# G (A)
I can feel my time calling
Bb A Ab
to a slow end
D A/C# C
oooooooh oooooooh ooooooooh
(chorus bit again, repeat a few times)
G
mother dear, the world's gone cold, no-one cares about love anymore
F
what will you say when you
C
see my face
G
father do you own me, do you know me, do you even care
F
what will you say when you
C
take my place
G
well its so funny now, i just don't feel like i'm a man
F
what will you say
C
Note:
The tab has proceeded in fits and starts (even though I've been playing the song for ages), so apologies for those who've been waiting. Meanwhile, Mark Webber has posted quite a nice tab of this song to OLGA which overlapped with the bits I had tabbed and posted here, but he went into much more detail.
Our tabs now are reasonably similar, but he has chosen elaboration in presentation whereas I tend to lean towards economy. To the extent there are any notable differences in the content, they probably come in the break section.
The song is played in open G tuning, as per "Last Goodbye" -- Jeff played both using his Rickenbacker, which was kept in this tuning.
*Introduction (Part 1 -- from Frankfurt 1995 performance)
This is a pretty impressionistic interpretation of the stuff played before the band kicks in.
I hope it does the trick.
D-----3---3---0-------5-----5---------3---3---0-------5-----5---
B-------0---1-0-----------6---5-------------1^0-----------6-----
G---0-----------0---0---5-------5-------0-------0-------5-------
D-----------------3---------------5---------------3-------------
G-----------------------------------0---------------0-----------
D---------------------------------------------------------------
D---------3------2-------0-----------------------------2^0-0-------[rapid]
B-5---------0------0-------0-----3^1-----1-------1---------1-----1--0^1^0-
G---5---------0------0-------0-------0---0-0-0-------0---------0---------0
D-----5>3--------------3-------3-------3-2-----2---2---------2-----2------
G-------------------------------------------------------------------------
D-------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Introduction (Part 2) / Chorus Riff
D--------------|------------|------------|----------------|-----
B---0--1--3--5-|-6--5--3--1-|-0--1--3--5-|-6--5^6^5--3--1-|-----
G---0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0------0--0-|-----
D---0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0------0--0-|-----
G---0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0------0--0-|-----
D--------------|------------|------------|----------------|-----
D------------|-----|-----------||-final bar a-||-final bar b-|--------
B--0--1--0---|--0--|--------1--||--1----------||--1----------| Repeat this,
G--0--0--2---|--2--|--2--0--0--||--0----------||--0---4-5-6--| finishing each
D--3--3--3---|--3--|--2--2--2--||--2--3>5-----||--2----------| pass on each
G--X--X--X---|--X--|--X--X--X--||--X----------||--X---4-5-6--| of these final
D--3--3--3---|--3--|--2--2--2--||--2--3>5-----||--2----------| bars.
The hammer-on/pull-off stuff I've stuck in bar 4 is kinda optional.
Sometimes it happens, other times it doesn't.
In the second part -- the F major and C major chords -- I haven't tabbed
anything for the top string. Mark suggests fretting the 3rd fret for the F
and the 2nd fret for the C, mirroring what is happening on the bottom D
string.
I personally find that makes the fingering unnecessarily difficult, and I also
don't think it sounds as nice. My preference is to either mute the top string
(or do your best not to play it), or else just leave it open and let it ring. It
sounds nice that way, to my ears anyway.
So that leaves you with three options to play around with. Don't ever say I'm
not generous!
*Introduction (Part 3)
D---------------------------------------------------------------
B---------------------------------------------------------------
G--4-4-4-4-|-4-4-4-4-|-4-4-4-4-|-4-4-4-4-|--- and repeat once --
D--X-X-X-X-|-X-X-X-X-|-X-X-X-X-|-X-X-X-X-|----------------------
G--4-4-4-4-|-4-4-4-4-|-4-4-4-4-|-4-4-4-4-|----------------------
D---------------------------------------------------------------
Verse:
"It's been such a long time...."
play these x 4 per bar play these x 4 each
D----------|---|---|---------|---|---|---|---------|----|----|--
B----------|---|---|---------|---|---|---|---------|----|----|--
G--4-4-4-4-|-4-|-4-|-4-4-5-5-|-7-|-7-|-7-|-7-7-9-9-|-10-|-10-|--
D--X-X-X-X-|-X-|-X-|-X-X-X-X-|-X-|-X-|-X-|-X-X-X-X-|--X-|--X-|--
G--4-4-4-4-|-4-|-4-|-4-4-5-5-|-7-|-7-|-7-|-7-7-9-9-|-10-|-10-|--
D----------|---|---|---------|---|---|---|---------|----|----|--
"...what will you say..."
play all of these chords x 4 each
D------|----|----|----|----|----|-------------------------------
B------|----|----|----|----|----|-------------------------------
G---10-|-10-|-9--|-9--|-9--|-9--|-------------------------------
D----X-|--X-|-X--|-X--|-X--|-X--|-------------------------------
G---10-|-10-|-9--|-9--|-9--|-9--|-------------------------------
D------|----|----|----|----|----|-------------------------------
*Chorus
As per the section tabbed in the introduction (part 2), but just for
variation, before the break, Jeff plays something like the following:
D--------------|------------|------------|--------------------------------|
B---0--1--3--5-|-6--5--3--1-|-0--1--3--5-|-6-8-10-8^10^8-6^8^6-5^6^5--3-1-|
G---0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0-0--0-0------0-----0------0-0-|
D---0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--------------------------0-0-|
G---0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--0--0--0-|-0--------------------------0-0-|
D--------------|------------|------------|--------------------------------|
D--------------|-----|-----------|-----
B---0--1--0----|--0--|--------1--|--1--
G---0--0--2----|--2--|--2--0--0--|--0--
D---3--3--3----|--3--|--2--2--2--|--2--
G---X--X--X----|--X--|--X--X--X--|--X--
D---3--3--3----|--3--|--2--2--2--|--2--
*Break
"I can feel your time crawling...."
D-------------|-----------|----2--|----4---5--7--|----------8--|
B--8--6-----3-|---5-5-3-5-|----0--|----0---0--0--|----------X--|
G--9--7-----3-|---5-5-3-5-|----0--|----0---0--X--|----------X--|
D--X--X-----X-|---X-X-X-X-|----2--|----4---5--7--|----------8--|
G--9--7-----3-|---5-5-3-5-|----X--|----X---X--X--|----------X--|
D-------------|-----------|----2--|----4---5--7--|--8-8-8-8-8--|
D--7-7--7--|---5---5--|---------------------|-------------------
B--0-0--0--|---0---0--|---------------------|-------------------
G--X-X--X--|---0---0--|---------------------|-------------------
D--7-7--7--|-3>5---5--|---10>9--10>9--10>9--|-------------------
G--X-X--X--|-X-X---X--|----X-X---X-X---X-X--|-------------------
D--7-7--7--|-3>5---5--|---10>9--10>9--10>9--|-------------------
Then run through the first six bars again (with slightly altered rhythms for
bars 5 and 6) and finish on
D----6--|--6--|------|-----|-----|------------------------------
B----X--|--X--|---7--|--5--|--3--|------------------------------
G-------|-----|---7--|--7--|--5--|------------------------------
D----6--|--6--|------|-----|-----|------------------------------
G----X--|--X--|---7--|--6--|--5--|------------------------------
D----6--|--6--|------|-----|-----|------------------------------
Then there's some thrashy stuff with Jeff strumming most of the strings pretty
rapidly, fretting notes on the B string up around the 12th fret, mirroring the
melody from the intro/chorus -- make it up as you go ;)
Have fun.