{title: The Idiot}
{artist: Stan Rogers}
{album: Northwest Passage (1981)}
{key: A}
{tempo: 110}
{difficulty: advanced}
{phase: 4}
{strand: CR}
{feel: drive}
{lead_voice: mid}
{lead_mode: solo}
{lead_demand: showpiece}
{harmony: M,H}
{a_cappella: no}
{kit: gtr,fdl}
{set_role: driver}
{lang: en}
{country_tags: CA}
{copyright: copyrighted}
{tags: canadiana,chorus,copyrighted,forecastle,lead,shanty,stan-rogers,western-canada,working-song}
{credit: Stan Rogers — 'The Idiot' (Northwest Passage, 1981). (c) Fogarty's Cove Music. Chord skeleton only — for full lyrics see the Stan Rogers Songbook (Ariel Rogers, ed.) or stanrogers.net.}

{c: Stan Rogers' Western-Canadian working song — an East-Coast Maritime man who left the dying fishery for an Alberta oil camp. Demanding phrasing; rewards a strong lead. The song is about being told you're an idiot for leaving home, and answering "I'd be one not to."}
{c: Five chords (A, D, E, F#m, Bm). Mid-tempo 4/4, around 110 BPM. The voice does most of the work.}
{c: CHORD SKELETON ONLY. Copyrighted lyrics.}

{c: ===== STRUCTURE =====}
{c: Verse / Verse / Chorus / Verse / Verse / Chorus / Bridge / Chorus / Chorus.}
{c: The verses are long and lyrically dense — this is a story song, not a shanty. Lead carries the entire narrative; band stays light.}

{start_of_verse}
{c: VERSE: conversational lead, light guitar boom-chuck.}
[A] / / / | [D] / / / | [A] / [F#m] / | [E] / / /
[A] / / / | [D] / / / | [A] / [E] / | [A] / / /
{end_of_verse}

{start_of_chorus}
{c: CHORUS: band joins on the chorus; the lead still carries the strong lines.}
[D] / / / | [A] / / / | [Bm] / / / | [E] / / /
[D] / / / | [A] / [E] / | [A] / / /
{end_of_chorus}

{c: ===== PERFORMANCE NOTES =====}
{c: This is a LEAD piece — one strong voice, the band underneath but never on top. Don't try to harmonise the verses.}
{c: The chorus is where the band lifts. Stay restrained on the verses so the chorus lift is felt.}
{c: This is also THE song to give to the Mayne Stays member who's lived on both coasts — the Pacific-meets-Atlantic identity is exactly the song's territory.}

{c: ===== REFERENCE RECORDINGS =====}
{c: Stan Rogers — 'The Idiot' (Northwest Passage, 1981). The definitive studio version.}
{c: Stan Rogers — 'The Idiot' (For the Family, 1983, posthumous live). Live arrangement.}
{c: The Stan Rogers Songbook (Ariel Rogers, ed.).}