Tracy Chapman - Be Careful Of My Heart

be careful of my heart – tracy chapman

beautiful song and a sophisticated 4 chord trick!

riff

Dm F C

E – – – – – 1 – – – – – – – – – – 0 – – – – 0 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – |
B – – – – 3 – – – – 3 – – – – – 1 – – – – 1 – – – – – – – – – – 0 – – – – – – – – – 0 – – – – | play twice for intro , then
G – – – 2 – – – – – – 2 – – – 2 – – – – 0 – – – – – 0 – – – – – – 0 – – – – – – – – – 0 – – – | repeat all through the first
D – – 0 – – – – – – – – 0 – 3 – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 0 – – – 0 – – – – – 0 – – | 12 lines of the song .
A – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – 3 – – – – – 2 – 3 – 3 – – – – – 2 – 3 – 3 – – – – – – – |
E – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – |

chords

( you can hear she plays the open high ’e’ on the album track . i recommend using your
thumb for the low F . )
^
Dm F C G

E – 1 – – – 0 – – 0 – – 3 – |
B – 3 – – – 1 – – 1 – – 3 – |
G – 2 – – – 2 – – 0 – – 0 – |
D – 0 – – – 3 – – 2 – – 0 – |
A – x – – – 3 – – 3 – – 2 – |
E – x – – – 1 – – x – – 3 – |

you and your sweet smile
you and all you tantalising ways
you and your honey lips
you and all the sweet things that they say
you and your wild wild ways
one day you just up and walked away
oh you left me hurting
but i can forgive you for that now
you taught me something
something it took me have my life to learn
when you give all yourself away
just tell them to be careful of your heart

F G
be careful of my heart , heart
F C
be careful of this heart of mine
F G
be careful of my heart , heart
F C
it just might break and send some splinters flying
F G
be careful of my heart , heart
riff x1
be careful

Dm
you , you , you
F
you , you , you
C ( B ) C
you , you , you
F G
took my love
F C
thought you took it all

Dm
you , you , you
F
you , you , you
C ( B ) C
you , you , you
F G
took my love ,
riff x 1
now you’re gone

G
i’m not breaking down
F C
i’m not falling apart
Dm
i just lost a little faith
F C
when you broke my heart
Dm
given a chance
F C
i might try it again
C G
i would risk it all this time

Dm
i’d save a little love for myself
F
enough for my heart to mend
C
a little love for myself
G Dm
cause one day i just might love again
F
one day
C
some sweet smile
( B ) C
might turn my head
Dm F C ( B ) C
one day i just might blow myself away
Dm F C ( B ) C
one day
Dm F C ( B ) C
one day
Dm F C ( B ) C
one day

where you see A ’ ( B ) ’ you can hear that she plays the C chord and drops the low C to A
B , then back up . this is massively reinforced by the bass , but can be easily enough
replicated for playing on a solo acoustic .

this has been my first tab and i transcribed it from ear , so it’s open to debate . i
think it’s fairly accurate , i hope it helps .

good luck and thank you .