Skip to main content

Nelly Bly

by Stephen Foster · posted by gatman

How hard is it?
Favorite
Print

Ad: Want to make Nelly Bly sound awesome on your harmonica? Master tight single notes, rock solid bending and more with easy video lessons → click here.

How to read this tab — notation key
+
Blow note
−
Draw note
b or '
Half-step bend
bb or ''
Two half-step bend
bbb or '''
Three half-step bend
(###)
Chord — relevant hole numbers in parentheses
< or *
Push the button in (chromatic harmonica)

Full reference and posting tips in the tab guide.

Tab
C
 5 -5  6    5 -5  6     
Nelly Bly! Nelly Bly!
                G7
  5   -5    6   -6 -4
bring the broom along
      C                F
 -5     5   -5   6   6   -6    -7   7
We'll sweep the kitchen clean, my dear,
    G7           C
 7   -7  7 -8 -7   7
and have a little song.

 5   -5   6    6   5 -5  6
Poke the wood, my lady love,
                  G7
 6   5   -5  6 -6  -4
and make the fire burn
    C                   F
-5    5  -5  6    6  -6 -7  7
And while I take the banjo down,
     G7            C
 7    -7   7   -8  7  -8
Just give the mush a turn

chorus
C             F
  8     7  7   7  -6 -6  
Heigh! Nelly, Ho! Nelly,
C                G7
 6  5    5    4  -4
listen, love, to me.
     C             F
-5    5   -5   6    -6  -7   7   
I'll sing for you, play for you,
  G7          C
7 -7  7 -8 -7 7
a dulcet melody.


Verse 2
Nelly Bly has a voice like the turtle dove,
I hear it in the meadow and I hear it in the grove.
Nelly Bly she has a heart as warm as a cup of tea,
And bigger than the sweet potato down in Tennessee.

Verse 3
Nelly Bly shuts her eye when she goes to sleep.
When she wakens up again her eyeballs start to peep.
The way she walks, she lifts her foot,
and then she bumps it down,
And when it lights, there's music there
in that part of the town.
Verse 4
Nelly Bly! Nelly Bly! Never, never sigh;
Never bring the tear drop to the corner of your eye.
For the pie is made of pumpkins
and the mush is made of corn,
And there's corn and pumpkins plenty, love,
a-lyin' in the barn.

Play on a harmonica— watch which holes to blow & draw, with sound

Comments

More by Stephen Foster

Oh Suzanna

Stephen FosterKey CChildren

posted by djlactose

85k3.6Beginner

Camptown Races

Stephen FosterKey CChildren

posted by djlactose

52kBeginner

Beautiful Dreamer

Stephen FosterLove

posted by zephyrazure

28kBeginner

Swanee River

Stephen Foster

posted by waynedf

25kBeginner

Oh Susanna(Chromatic)

Stephen FosterKey C

posted by dino

17k

Oh Susanna !

Stephen Foster

posted by x-quentin-x

15k

More tabs like this

Blowin' in the wind(C)

Bob DylanKey CFolk

posted by nicolash85

280k4.3Beginner

Bella Ciao

Pietro GoriKey CFolk

posted by mmolino54

270k4.4Beginner

Oh Susanna(2)

UnknownKey CFolk

posted by yatirh

142k4.4Beginner

Like a Rolling Stone (harp riffs)

Bob DylanKey CFolk

posted by zeekyboogydoog

134kBeginner

Don't Think Twice, It's Alright - solos

Bob DylanKey AFolk

posted by chidave

117kIntermediate

House of the Rising Sun (New - Working 100%)

Bob DylanKey CFolk

posted by DTmonk

116k3.6Beginner