It’s late. You’re driving down a rain-slicked highway, or maybe you’re just sitting in a dark room with a glass of something strong. Then that guitar hits. That thick, weeping, sustain-heavy tone that feels like it’s physically pulling at your chest. Gary Moore didn’t just play the blues; on his 1990 masterpiece, he lived them. But if you look closely at the still got the blues for you gary moore lyrics, there is a lot more going on than just a standard "my baby left me" story.
Honestly, this song saved Gary Moore’s career. Before this, he was the Irish shredder. He was the guy from Thin Lizzy and Skid Row who could play faster than almost anyone else on the planet. He was a hard rock titan. Then, at 38 years old, he decided he was done with the hairspray and the pyrotechnics. He went home to the music that first made him pick up a guitar.
The Real Meaning Behind the Words
Most people hear the chorus and think it’s a simple breakup song. "But I've still got the blues for you." It sounds like he’s pining for a woman. While that's the surface-level narrative, many fans and critics argue the lyrics are actually a love letter to the genre itself.
Think about the line: "So many years since I've seen your face." Gary hadn't played pure blues professionally for over a decade by 1990. He had been "playing the game" of the 80s rock scene. The "empty space" he mentions? That might not be a bedroom; it might be his soul.
The lyrics are surprisingly sparse.
- Verse 1: Used to be so easy to give my heart away.
- The Lesson: I found out the hard way, there’s a price you have to pay.
- The Hook: I found out that love was no friend of mine.
He’s talking about the disillusionment of the industry. The "price you have to pay" is the loss of artistic integrity. When he sings that he’s still got the blues, he’s basically telling the world, "I tried to be a pop star, I tried to be a metal god, but I’m still just a bluesman from Belfast."
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That "Woman Tone" and the 1959 Les Paul
You can't talk about the still got the blues for you gary moore lyrics without talking about how he sang them with his fingers. Moore famously used a 1959 Gibson Les Paul Standard for this track. This wasn't just any guitar. It was "Greenie," the legendary instrument previously owned by Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac.
Wait, actually, that's a common misconception. While Moore owned Greenie, he actually used a different ’59 Les Paul he had just bought for the bulk of the Still Got the Blues album. He wanted a sound that was "thick." To get it, he used the neck pickup and rolled the tone knob down, a trick Eric Clapton called the "woman tone."
He paired this with a prototype Marshall JTM45 reissue and a Guv’nor distortion pedal. The result? A sound so saturated and long-lasting that the final note of the solo seems to ring out into eternity.
The Controversy Nobody Talks About
Did Gary Moore steal the melody? This is the part that usually gets left out of the glowing retrospectives. In 2008, a German court ruled that the iconic guitar solo in "Still Got the Blues" was a little too close to a 1974 song called "Nordrach" by a band named Jud's Gallery.
Moore denied ever hearing the song. It had never been released on CD or LP at the time he wrote his hit. But the court didn't care about intent. They ruled that because he could have heard it on the radio or at a live show in the 70s, it was copyright infringement.
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It was a weird, sour note in an otherwise legendary legacy. Moore had to pay an undisclosed amount in damages, though most fans agree that even if the melody was similar, the soul was all Gary.
Decoding the Still Got the Blues For You Gary Moore Lyrics
If you’re trying to learn the song or just want to understand the structure, you’ve got to look at the "Circle of Fifths" progression. It’s the same harmonic movement you hear in "Autumn Leaves" or "I Will Survive." It creates a sense of inevitable descent.
The Verse Structure
The song is in A Minor. It starts with a Dm7, moves to G, then Cmaj7, then Fmaj7. It feels like you’re falling down a flight of stairs, but in a beautiful way. By the time he gets to the Bm7b5 and the E7, the tension is so high that the resolution back to Am feels like a punch in the gut.
The Bridge Shift
"Though the days come and go, there is one thing I know..."
Here, the song shifts. It’s less about the "you" and more about the "I." He’s standing his ground. The instrumentation gets heavier here, reflecting the grit in the lyrics.
How to Actually Play Like Gary (According to the Pros)
If you want to capture the vibe of the still got the blues for you gary moore lyrics, you can't just play the notes. You have to over-bend.
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- The Vibrato: Gary’s vibrato was wide and aggressive. It wasn't a gentle shimmer; it was a shake.
- The Attack: He hit the strings hard. He used extra heavy Gibson picks.
- The Sustained Note: That high G note he holds? You need a lot of gain, but you also need to find the "sweet spot" in front of your amp where the feedback becomes musical.
Real Talk: Why It Still Ranks
In 2026, we’re surrounded by "perfect" music. Everything is quantized. Everything is pitch-corrected.
"Still Got the Blues" is the opposite. It’s messy. You can hear the pick hitting the strings. You can hear Gary’s breath. On the album, he actually left in small mistakes because he prized "humanity" over perfection. He recorded his vocals in the control room using a Shure Beta 58—a live mic—instead of a fancy studio condenser. He wanted it to feel like a gig.
That’s why people still search for the lyrics. It’s not just for the words; it’s for the feeling of a man admitting he’s broken but still has his music.
Your Next Steps for Mastering the Blues
If you’re a guitar player or just a hardcore fan, don't stop at the lyrics.
- Listen to "Midnight Blues" from the same album. It uses the actual "Greenie" Les Paul and has an even darker tone.
- Check out the live version from Montreux 1990. It’s arguably better than the studio cut because Gary is playing for his life.
- Study the Bm7b5 chord. It’s the "secret sauce" of the song’s emotional tension. If you're writing your own music, try swapping a regular minor chord for a "half-diminished" one to get that "Moore" sound.
The lesson here is simple: you can spend your whole life trying to be what people want you to be—the fast player, the rock star, the trend-follower—but you’ll only find true success when you return to what you actually love. For Gary, that was the blues. For you, it might be something else entirely. Just make sure you don't wait thirty years to find it.