My good friend Simon Camp from England is an accomplished carpenter, photographer, and house-daddy, among other things. One day as we were working together on a house project that was going off track, he remarked that 'Everything was at sixes and sevens.' Being a fan of interesting sayings, I never forgot it, and that one little phrase eventually evolved into a world where a couple of numbers can cause a lot of trouble.
6's and 7's (and other troublemakers)
Sixes and Sevens and other troublemakers, looking for mischief but they won’t find any takers
In the fours and the fives and the eights and the nines ‘cause they are good little numbers
I went down to Nelson town to buy some eggs from Farmer Brown
But the coop it was empty it was less then slim pickings
‘Cause six stole the eggs and seven stole the chickens
Sixes and Sevens and other troublemakers, looking for mischief but they won’t find any takers
In the fours and the fives and the eights and the nines ‘cause they are good little numbers
I went down to the fishing hole with my lucky fishing pole
But a sign said the pond was out of order
‘cause six stole the fish and seven stole the water
So I went down to the candy shop to buy a super sucker pop
But the candy was missing, the kids were melancholy
‘Cause six stole the pop and seven stole the lolly
Sixes and Sevens and other troublemakers, looking for mischief but they won’t find any takers
In the fours and the fives and the eights and the nines ‘cause they are good little numbers
Betsy’s bakery was my next try because she makes the best blueberry pie
My stomach was ready, my mouth it was willing
But six stole the crust and seven stole the filling
I asked them both to explain why they had to be such a pain
They said when we’re alone everything is just ducky
But we add up to thirteen and thirteen is unlucky
Sixes and Sevens and other troublemakers, looking for mischief but they won’t find any takers
In the fours and the fives and the eights and the nines ‘cause they are good little numbers
GUITAR NOTES:
I play this in open G tuning, but you can get pretty close in standard tuning by playing the following:
Capo 2
Chorus: G/B7/C/D (3x) C/D
Verses: G/B7/C/D (3x) C/D/C/D
