Alright, Yeah Releases Gigs Lyrics Comments Tablature

Details

Author
Robyn Hitchcock
Versions
German, Swedish
According to our records, Robyn has played this song 155 times, most recently at Robyn & Emma's house on February 05, 2025. He first performed it at Kulturbolaget on October 28, 1989, 35 years and 3 months earlier.

Comments

From Robyn on Patreon in 2025
This song is my celebration of indifference: nothing matters, in the best possible way. It began to materialize in my head over the summer of 1991, when I was lurching between Washington D.C., the Isle of Wight and Los Angeles. I was by now deeply bi-continental, and seldom spent more than two weeks in any one place. This song sprouted verses everywhere, and most of them were pruned before I began singing it acoustically with the Egyptians.

It’s a qualified farewell: whoever I’m saying goodbye to, I’ll probably be saying hello to them again in a couple of months.

I recorded "Alright Yeah" in 1992 with the Egyptians on the Isle of Wight for my last A&M album, but that version didn’t make the release. It did however appear on the deliciously mis-titled Greatest Hits album that A&M put out in 1996. By then I had re-recorded it for my first Warner Brothers album, Moss Elixir. A Swedish language take of this track appears on the companion vinyl LP Mossy Liquour. There’s also a live version on Jonathan Demme’s Storefront Hitchcock movie, from which WB released the soundtrack in 1998. All in all, ‘Alright Yeah’ must have been my most widespread composition of the 1990s.

To me, it’s neither up nor down: a very even-tempered song with which I would like to welcome you to the middle of yet another decade. Step this way, folks…

Lyrics

I gotta go
But it won't be so
I don't be back again
I gotta leave
But I don't believe
We won't be back again
No no no no
Everything's inside another
No no no no no, alright yeah

I gotta walk
But I'm gonna put my fork
Next to your spoon
I gotta split
It's a quaint
Old-fashioned way to leave the room 
The room...
Smell them burning leaves
Everyone beside another
No no no no no, alright yeah

Whatever you pray to
That's were you belong
I'm gonna get mine someday
I'm gonna get mine

I gotta laugh
But there's half
Of me that wants to sit and cry
I gotta split
It's a quaint
Old-fashioned way to say goodbye, goodbye
What's your mother for?
Not a launchpad for your father
No no no no no, alright yeah
Alright yeah
Alright... yeah




Alright, Yeah (in Swedish)
        lag mastc ga, men det ar inte att jag inte
        kommer tillbaks
        lag maste sticka, men jag tror inte att vi
        inte kommer tillbaks
        Nej nej ncj nej, allt ar inuti nit annat
        Nej nej nej nej nej, okej yeah
        Jag Illastc ga, men jag lagger min gaffel
        jamtc din skcd
        Jag maste dra, ett uraldrat satt att lamna
        tummet pa
        Sc dom brinnande loven, lov pa lov
        Nej nej nej nej nej, okej yeah
        Vad du an ber till, det ar till den du hot
        Jag fir vad jag fortianar
        Vad jag fortjanar
        Jag maste skrarta, men halften av mig vill
        sitta ned och grata
        Jag mastedra, ert uraldrat sart att saga hej
        da hej da
        For vad ar din mor? Inte en start platta at
        din far
        Nej nej nej nej nej, okej yeah

Tablature

Intro:

D/Dsus2, A/Asus2, Am, G, D/Dsus2, D/Dsus2
(4 measures each)

D/Dsus2    A/Asus2
...I gotta go...
    
       Am            G                D/Dsus2
But it won't be so I don't... be back again

D/Dsus2    A/Asus2
...I gotta leave

      Am               G              D/Dsus2
But I don't believe we won't be back again

G           D/Dsus2
...No no no no

G                 D/Dsus2
...Everything's inside another

G           D              E
...No no no no no, alright yeah

D/Dsus2    A/Asus2
...I gotta walk

        Am           G                 D/Dsus2
But I'm gonna put my fork next to your spoon

D/Dsus2    A/Asus2
...I gotta split

       Am                   G                Bsus4
It's a quaint old-fashioned way to leave the room

    E
The room...

G                    D/Dsus2
...Smell the burning leaves

G             D
...Everyone beside another

G           D              E
...No no no no no, alright yeah

[These next four chords are just
XX9777, XX9787, XX9797, XX97-10-7]

(Staccato)
Bm           Bm(add G)  Bm6                 Bm7
Whatever you pray to..... that's were you belong

A                G
...I'm gonna get mine someday

A             G
I'm gonna get miiiiiine

[Repeat intro w/lead]

D/Dsus2    A/Asus2
...I gotta laugh

            Am              G                   D/Dsus2
But there's half of me that wants... to sit and cry

D/Dsus2    A/Asus2
...I gotta split

       Am                   G                 Bsus4/Bm
It's a quaint old-fashioned way... to say goodbye

    E
Goodbye

G                     D/Dsus2
...What's your mother for?

G                  D/Dsus2
...Not a launchpad for your father

G           D/Dsus2        E
...No no no no no, alright yeah

        A
Alright yeah

           G --- F#m --- F --- E - D# - D
Alright... yeah