"Englishman in New York" is a song by English artist Sting, from his second studio album ...Nothing Like the Sun, released in October 1987. Branford Marsalis played soprano saxophone on the track. The "Englishman" in question is the famous eccentric and gay icon Quentin Crisp. Sting wrote the song not long after Crisp moved from London to an apartment in the Bowery in Manhattan. Crisp had remarked jokingly to the musician "that he looked forward to receiving his naturalization papers so that he could commit a crime and not be deported."

Sting remembered feeling homesick when he first moved to New York and seeking out the English pubs in the city to get a taste of home. "I'd go, early on Saturday mornings, to one of these pubs to watch live soccer from England via satellite. There you could drink English beer, enjoy a greasy fried breakfast, and rub shoulders with Englishmen from Manchester, Liverpool, London, and Newcastle. We'd yell at the screen as if our voices could have some magical influence over a poor offside decision by the ref or to advise him that a foul had been committed when he was looking the other way. We are a superstitious and primitive tribe, and when the match was over, we'd fade back into the city like ghosts," he remembered in Lyrics By Sting.

here are 4 voicings of the intro/verse chords:
Em A Bm A9
022030 002220 224432 002220
002200

075700 007650 707700 002420 or 202220
707600

0109000 0011900 709700 709600
110 120

354000 5770xx 7990xx 777779

and for the last line of the verse "I'm an alien in New York" or "Be yourself....." etc. use:

Em9 A Bm or GMaj7 F#7+5 Bminor
024030 002220 224432 3x4432 202330 224430

the chorus is preceeded by an F#minor chord 244222 "oh oh" .......then:

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien I'm an alien in New York
GM AM F#m11 Bm Em9 A9 Bm Bm open
005430 007650 202200 244322 024030 002420 224432 004430

I'm an alien I'm a legal alien I'm an alien in New York
GM7 AM7 F#m Bm Em9 F#7+5 Bm
3x4430 500650 244222 244322 024030 202330 224432

I'm an alien in New York
GM7 F#7+5 Bm preceeding the bridge F#m
3x4432 202330 224432 244222

Bridge: Modesty propriety can lead to notoriety
D D9 A A#dim 7
000232 000230 002220 012020

You could end up as the only one
Bm11 AM/B F# F# open
707700 707600 244322 044300

Gentleness sobriety are rare in this society
G2 GM7 A A#dim7
300203 3x4432 002220 012020

at night the candles brighter than the sun
A11b9 A13 Bm Bm open or F#
545333 505033 224432 024430 244322

свернуть