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Elton John – Daniel

Lyrics, Harmonica Tabs

Daniel music and lyrics are property and copyright of their owners and provided for educational purposes and personal use only.
The following is my transcription of my version of this awesome song. If you want how the author intended, check out the links below.

Lyrics and Harmonica Tabs
VERSE
Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights
Heading for Spain oh and
I can see Daniel waving goodbye
God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes

VERSE
They say Spain is pretty though I’ve never been
Well Daniel says it’s the best place that he’s
Ever seen oh and
He should know, he’s been there enough
Lord I miss Daniel, oh I miss him so much

CHORUS
Oh Daniel my brother you are older than me
Do you still feel the pain of the scars that won’t heal
Your eyes have died but you see more than I
Daniel you’re a star in the face of the sky

VERSE
Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane
I can see the red tail lights
Heading for Spain oh and
I can see Daniel waving goodbye
God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes
Oh God it looks like Daniel, must be the clouds in my eyes

VERSE
7 7 7 7 7 7 7 -7 -6 -5
-7 -7 -7 7 -8 -7 -6 5
8 -9 8 -8 8 -8 7 7 -8 7
7 7 7 -8 -7 -6 -7 -6 6 -6
-7 7 -8 8 7 -6 6 6 6 -9 8 7 -8 7
(Last time)
8 -8 7 -8 7 -8 7 -6 5 5 5 -9 8 7 -8 7

CHORUS
8 -8 7 -6 7 -8 7 -6 -6 7 8 7 -8 7
8 -8 7 7 -8 -6 -6 7 8 7 -8 7
8 -8 7 -8 7 -6 -6 8 8 -8 7 -8 7 -6
10 -9 -9 7 8 8 8 8 -9 9 -8 7 -8 7 -7

Quick Facts

Daniel was written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and released on the 1973 album, “Don’t Shoot Me I’m only The Piano Player”.

Video Transcription
Hi, George here. Welcome to this video where I show you how to play Daniel by Elton John on harmonica.
We’ll figure out the position we are going to play in, pick out a key and then tab through the melody.
Right on, let’s do it.
Daniel is in the key of C and I’m going to play it on a C harmonica so we’re in first position. That works best for this melody, I’ve found.
Daniel is a great melody and we can play all the notes except one so we’re going to have to come up with an alternative note to play with. There is an A flat in the melody of the chorus which we can’t sound on the C harmonica so we’ll have to pick another note to get around that.
I’m going to slowly play through the melody and put that tabs up so you can follow along. Starting on C with a blow 7. Daniel is travelling tonight on a plane.
There are 3 verses plus a solo and a chorus. There’s a verse. Next let’s look at the chorus.
The line “Daniel your a star” is the spot that gives us trouble. This is an F minor chord where the melody goes from C to Ab to F C to E.
Ab is not on the harmonica and we can’t bend to get it.
For the F minor chord, the notes in the chord are F, Ab which we need to hit, C and F. What we can do instead of playing Ab is to play one of the other chord tones in F minor. It won’t match the melody perfectly but it will stay within the chord. What I will do is play F instead.

Good luck with that. See you in the next video.