Burn
(Blackmore/Lord/Paice/Coverdale)
Title track from the album "Burn", 1974

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Key: B flat

Intro:  Gm
    Gm
The sky is red, I don't understand;
F/G
past midnight I still see the land.
  Gm
People are sayin' the woman is damned,
 C                                         Gm
she makes you burn with a wave of her hand.___
The city's ablaze, the town's on fire;
     F/G
the woman's flames are reachin' higher.
Gm
We were fools, we called her "liar";
Bb  F  C       Gm     Eb   C    Gm
All I hear is "Burn!"_____________

I didn't believe she was devil's sperm;
she said, "Curse you all, you'll never learn!
When I leave there's no return!"
The people laughed till she said, "Burn!"

Warning came, no one cared;
earth was shakin', we stood and stared.
When it came no one was spared;
Still I hear "Burn!"

Dm                       Bb
     You know we had no time,
                       Am         Bb
      we could not even try,______
                         Dm      Bb/D    C/D   Gm
      You know we had no time.

The sky is red, I don't understand;
past midnight, I still see the land.
People are sayin' the woman is damned;
she makes you burn with a wave of her hand.

Warning came, no one cared;
earth was shakin, we stood and stared.
When it came no one was spared.
Still I hear "Burn!"

Ritchie Blackmore, David Coverdale, Jon Lord & Ian Paice

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e-----------------------------------------------------------
b-----------------------------------------------------------
g------5-3-0-5------3-3--0-5--0-3-------5-3-0-5----5-3-0----
d------5-3-0-5------3-3--0-5--0-3-------5-3-0-5----5-3-0-3--
a--------------------------------------------------------3--
e---3-------------3------------------3-------------------1--

"Use pull-offs and hammer-ons....this is basically a two finger riff."
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e-----------------------------------------------------------
b-----------------------------------------------------------
g------3-2-0-5------3-2-0-5--0-3------3-2-0-5------3-2-0----
d------3-2-0-5------3-2-0-5--0-3------3-2-0-5------3-2-0-3--
a--------------------------------------------------------3--
e---3-------------3------------------------------3------(1)-

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"Well just to give my two cents' worth, I think the riff should be played like this:

e-----------------------------------------------------------
b-----------------------------------------------------------
g---0--3-2-0-5----0-3-2-0-5----3------3-2-0-5----0-3-2-0----
d---0--3-2-0-5----0-3-2-0-5----3------3-2-0-5----0-3-2-0-3--
a--------------------------------------------------------3--
e-----------------------------------------------------------

Foreword:
Okay, I've seen this written many ways and I do believe that Ritchie does play variations on this riff. Version #2 is one of these variations, which is played at the very open of the song. What makes this tricky is that the G bass note is fretted with the thumb. But if you're familiar with other Blackmore riffs like "Can't Happen Here", "Man On The Silver Mountain" and "Spotlight Kid", then this interpretation should make sense to you.

                                                             
E---||------------------------------------------------------------------
B---||------------------------------------------------------------------
G---||*-----3p2-----5--------3p2-----5-----3-----3p2-----5--------------
D---||*-----3-2-----5--------3-2-----5-----3-----3-2-----5--------------
A---||------------------------------------------------------------------
E---||---3-------3--------3-------3-----------3-------3--------3--------
                                                                       

              4x                                                       
E-------------||--------------------------------------------------------
B-------------||--------------------------------------------------------
G--3p2p0-----*||--------------------------------------------------------
D--3-2-0--3--*||--------------------------------------------------------
A---------3---||--------------------------------------------------------
E-------------||--------------------------------------------------------
                                                                       

 

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Bill Jones typed the song in in the first place.