I Could Have Told You

Written by 
Jimmy Van Heusen and Carl Sigmann
Released on 
Triplicate (2017)
Tabbed by 
Eyolf Østrem

Again, a key that looks more difficult than it is to play in. Just don’t expect to use any open strings, ever!

Many of the chords are fat, and could be given different names. This is particularly relevant for the chord at “hurt you”. The bass plays Db-Gb at this point, so it would be preferable to play the first chord as Dbm6. This, however, is actually a nasty chord to play anywhere on the neck. It could therefore be played Gb9 from the start. An almost identical (save for the bass tone) and much easier chord to play is Bbm7-5 (x1212x). The tones are the same, so go ahead.

Abmaj7 can be played with all six strings if you use a “skewered barre” and play both the 4th fret (6th string) and 3rd fret (1st string) with the index finger. Otherwise, just leave out the first string.

Chords 
Abmaj7   4x554x or 4x5543
Dbm6     x4635x
Gb9      2x212x or x9899x
Bbm7-5   x1212x
Bb7/ab   4x333x
Eb9      x6566x
Cm7-5    x3434x
I_Could_Have_Told_You.png

Abmaj7 . . . | Dm11 . . Dbm11 Cm11 Cbm11 |
Bbm11 . Am11 Abm11 Gm11 Bbm7 | Abmaj7

             Bb7 
I could have told you
      Dbm6      Gb9
She’d hurt you
      Fm7
She’d love you a while
       Bdim
Then desert you
   Bbm7       
If only you’d asked
Eb7sus4      Eb7      Ab   Bb7/Ab  Ab
I could have told you so

             Bb7
I could have saved you
     Dbm6     Gb9
Some crying
     Fm7                  
Yes, I could have told you 
      Bdim
she’s lying
    Bbm7
But you were in love
Eb9         Eb7      Cm7-5   F7
 And didn’t want to know

           Bbm7
I hear her now
                  Eb9
As I toss and turn 
    Ab
and try to sleep
  F7       Bbm7
I hear her now
       Eb7             
Making promises 
       Ab7       Ab7/gb
she’ll never keep

Fm               Bb7
  And soon, it’s over 
    Dbm6      Gb9
and done with
       Fm7             
She’ll find someone new
        Bdim
to have fun with
        Bbm7
Through all of my tears
Eb7-9                 Ab . . Bb7
I could have told you so

Dbm6 . . Gb9 | Ab

I_Could_Have_Told_You - full.png

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