Time in a Bottle on Ukulele: X-Men and Quicksilver

For me the best bit in the latest X-Men movie was when Quicksilver runs around a room so fast that time appears to stop. The music played over this sequence is the poignant "Time In A Bottle". Which is the perfect choice since the singer Jim Croce had died in the 1973, the year the movie is set, aged only 30 in a plane crash. This song was Number One that year. The movie all about changing the past and so the song is perfect.

The sequence is also visually stunning. See the movie, it's worth is for just this. 

Anyhow, here are the chords. 

I don't strum these but kind of pluck them all at once in a kind of waltz (ONE two three) time. 

It's hard to transcribe, I hope it makes sense. 

By the way, the song also featured in the Muppet Show. Watch the age of the Muppet.

Intro:

7550 6550  5550 0232 0231 on e: 0-1-3-1-3-1

open g,  c and a together 4-5-7-8/10-8-7  

    2210        2110          2010   4210

If I could save time in a bottle

    0201                          A7  1-2-4-7-5-4 on c and a

The first thing that I'd like to do

      2210        2110    32xx     02xx    2210

Is to save every day till eternity passes away

        Gm              A7

Just to spend them with you.

    2210        2110          2010   4210

If I could make days last forever

    0201                          A7  1-2-4-7-5-4

If words could make wishes come true

      2210        2110    32xx     02xx    2210

I'd save every day like a treasure and then

        Gm              A7

Again, I would spend them with you.

          D              Dmaj7

But there never seems to be enough time

4220                 D                    G       Gmaj7 Em7 A7

To do the things you want to do Once you find them

      D             Dmaj7

I've looked around enough to know

    4220               D  G         Gmaj7 Em7 A7

That you're the one I want to go through time with.

    2210        2110          2010   4210

If I had a box just for wishes

    0201                          A7  1-2-4-7-5-4 on c and a

And dreams that had never come true

      2210        2110    32xx     02xx   

The box would be empty except for the memory

   2210          Gm            A7

Of how they were answered by you

          D              Dmaj7

But there never seems to be enough time

4220                 D                    G       Gmaj7 Em7 A7

To do the things you want to do Once you find them

      D             Dmaj7

I've looked around enough to know

    4220               D  G         Gmaj7 Em7 A7

That you're the one I want to go through time with.

2 on C with hammer on 1 E 

2 on C with 5th on E and A

Finish on 7555

La Vie En Rose

This was recently in the US TV show How I Met Your Mother. The version there is in G and English. The show, if you've never heard of it, is the long version of a father telling his children how he met their mother. The story is so long you never see her or get any closer to finding how he actually met her until many episodes in. Here, he doesn't even meet her, but hears her singing on the next balcony in a hotel. The singer is Cristin Milioti who appeared in the Broadway version of Once, the Irish romantic movie, full or lovely music too.

Translation is a tricky thing. Strictly the title means "The Life in Pink". Edith Piaf's 1946 version is of course definitive. She wrote the words to convey something like "I see life through rose-coloured glasses" but it is more about love and passion that just simple optimism. It is life and love itself.

I think it's best to try and sing it in French, the most romantic language of all. Except for Klingon.

My versions below are in C, so here's Andrea Bocelli singing it in that key. He happens to be blind and it's fascinating to see how he can so effortlessly sing and manoeuvre around the stage. Bravo.

I also like Jack Nicholson's version.

Here's three versions. The original, the most common version in English, which is not a translation at all and then my own effort which tried to capture the meaning of the words, and doesn't bother with the rhyme. I've also written it with a male voice, rather than female.


0112 C               A7  
Des yeux qui font baisser les miens,
 Dm7                          G7
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche,
             C      Gm  
Voila le portrait sans retouche
      A7         Dm7 G7
De la femme, auquel j'appartiens

CHORUS

C                Cmaj7
Quand elle me prend dans ses bras
                    C6
elle me parle tout bas,
  2323 Dm7 G7
Je vois la vie en rose.
Dm7                      G7
Elle me dit des mots d'amour,
                     Dm7
Des mots de tous les jours,
   G7 G7+           C   Dm7  G7
Et ça me fait quelque chos
C             Cmaj7
Elle est entre dans mon coeur
                C6
Une  part de bonheur
        C7        F
Dont je connais la cause.


1213                     C
C'est lui (toi) pour moi, Moi pour lui (toi) Dans la vie,
2323 or D7     Dm7      G7    1212
Elle me l'a dit, l'a jure pour la vie.
C                    Cmaj7
Et des que je l'apercois
       Dm7
Alors je sens en moi
G7         C 0101  Dm7 G7
Mon coeur qui bat


0112 C                A7             Dm7                    G7
Des nuits d'amour a ne plus en finir, Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place
    C                   Gm       A7                Dm7  G7
Des enuis, des chagrins s'effacent, Heureux, heureux a en mourir.

CHORUS

0112 C                A7  
With eyes which lower mine,
 Dm7                          G7
A smile's lost on her lips,
             C       Gm   
That's the untouched portrait
      A7          Dm7 G7
Of the girl I belong to.

C            Cmaj7
When I take her in my arms
                    C6
and she whispers soft to me,
   2323 Dm7  G7
I see la vie en rose.

Dm7                       G7
She declares her love to me
                     Dm7
just everyday words of love
   G7  G7+            C   Dm7  G7
And they do something to me.

C              Cmaj7
She has placed into my heart
                C6
A tiny speck of joy
        C7        F
of which I know the cause.

1213                      C
It's her for me, me for her, all my life
2323 or D7      Dm7       G7    1212
She said to me, swore to me, "forever".

C                Cmaj7
And as soon as I see her
        Dm7
Then I feel in me
G7         C  0101  Dm7 G7
my beating heart


0112       C                              A7  
May the nights of loving never end,
 Dm7                          G7
A great joy which takes the place
             C       Gm   
of trouble, grief, they are removed
      A7                   Dm7 G7
I could die, could die of it


0112    C                            A7            Dm7                                  G7
I thought that love was just a word They sang about in love songs I heard
                    C          Gm                     A7                       Dm7 G7
It took your kisses to reveal that I was wrong and love is real.

C                                      Cmaj7
Hold me close and hold me fast,
                                 C6
The magic spell you cast,
           2323     Dm7 G7
This is la vie en rose.            
Dm7                      G7
When you kiss me heaven sighs,
                     Dm7
And though I close my eyes
         G7+ C   2323  Dm7  G7
I see la vie en rose.

C                                      Cmaj7
When you press me to your heart,
                   C6
I'm in a world apart.
    C7                            F
A world where roses bloom;
1213                                                     C
And when you speak angels sing from above;
2323 or D7                     Dm7         G7    1212
Every day words seem to turn into love songs.

C                                   Cmaj7
Give your heart and soul to me,
C6             Dm7
And life will always be
G7            C 2323  Dm7 G7
La Vie en Rose.