Le Festin: Guitar Chords!

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#1

I’ve been wanting to play this beautiful song on guitar ever since I saw the movie. I couldn’t find the chords on the net so I figured them out on my own. Hopefully they will be of use to other musicians here :slight_smile:

Notes: Unfortunately, I can’t sing the original French, so I use the excellent English translation provided by Dodgertwin on [url]Le Festin Lyrics! - Archives - Pixar Planet Forums Thanks, Dodgertwin! The meter and singability of the English version is very good. Of course, the chords apply equally well to the French lyrics, and you should be able to do this easily after listening to the track a few times.

The song is originally in the key of D# Major, but I’ve transposed it a semitone down to D Major (for easier guitar fingering).

I’ve used jazz shorthand in my notation, so B- is B Minor, F#- is F Sharp Minor, and so on.

For optimal positioning of the chords over the lyrics, please copy and paste into a text editor like notepad, and view with a monospaced font like “Courier New”.

Please feel free to use, misuse, abuse, change, pass on, comment on, and improve upon this :wink:

Lastly, please note that this is just my interpretation of the music of the song (the chords) and not “guitar tabs”, so there are no legality issues here.

Cheers!

[code]
Song: Le Festin (The Feast)
Album: Ratatouille OST

D B- E- A
Dreams are to lovers as wine is to friends

E- A F#- B-
Carried through lifetimes, (and) spilled now and then

 D         F#-        C           B

I am driven by hunger, so saddened to be

E- A F#- B
Thieving in darkness; I know you’re not pleased

G             A         D

But nothing worth eating is free

D B- E- A
My hope is a banquet impatiently downed

E- A F#- B-
Impossibly full, now I’ll probably drown

 D                  F#-         C            B

Many thieves’ lives are lonely with one mouth to feed

E- A F#- B
If giving means taking, I’ll never succeed

G             A

For nothing worth stealing is…

D F#- C B
Free at last; won’t be undersold

E- A E- A
Surviving isn’t living; won’t eat what I’m told

D F#- C B
Let me free, I’ll astonish you; I’m planning to fly

E- A
I won’t let this party just pass me by

INTERLUDE:
D F#- C B
E- A E- A
D F#- C B
E- A
The banquet is now underway, so…

D B- E- A
Bring out the bottles; a new tale has spun

E- A F#- B-
In clearing this table, my new life’s begun

 D          F#-              C           B

I am nervous, excited; (oh) just read the marquee!

E- A F#- B
A lifetime of hiding; I’m suddenly free!

G A D
My dinner is waiting for me

E- A F#- B
A lifetime of hiding; I’m suddenly free!

A# F#- D
My dinner is waiting for me[/code]

#2

Impressive that you’ve figured all those chords out on your own! I don’t play guitar, but I do play piano. I may just try out those chords and sing along myself! Thanks!

#3

Thank you! I’d be glad to hear your comments after you’ve played the chords. To check them against the OST you’d have raise each chord by a semitone - for example, the first line becomes D#, C-, F-, A#. Dodgertwin’s English lyrics (for which I am grateful) are very nicely metered so do try singing along too :slight_smile:

I think D7 (D, A, C, F#) or Am6 (A, C, F#) sounds slightly better than the C. The original C works well too, but the actual notes of the vocal melody (A, F#) of that part are in D7 and Am6.

Edited. I combined both of your posts. – Mitch

#4

You beat me to it! The only thing I was going to mention was that C chord. At first, it made me shudder a bit, but when it “resolves” into the b minor, it’s awesome. So yes.
Now I’ve just tried it with D7, and that is more pleasing to the ear, but is more predictable.

Both are really good. I prefer the jazzy awkward sound of the C. It’s cool.
Overall, really good job on the rest. It all makes sense and sounds great. I enjoyed playing it, thanks!

You sound like a pretty serious musician. Do you play other instruments, or is it just a guitar focus? I play piano, and I’m a classical/opera singer. soprano. And I sing alto in choirs (<it beats singing the boring melodies of the sopranos!). My sister, Ashley (we share this account), plays the piano and viola.
Sheila

#5

Great!

Thanks for trying out the chords. I’m happy you like them, especially the anomalous C chord, that just happens to work so well in this particular progression.

I would love to talk to you both about music, but I guess it would be too off-topic here, so I’ll pm you instead :slight_smile:

Thanks again! Cheers!