Reel Around The Fountain

"'Reel Around The Fountain' was my interpretation of Jimmy Jones' version of 'Handy Man'. It came from one of mine and Joe Moss' marathon R&B record sessions one morning at Crazy Face. We went from listening to The Platters, which I wasn't really getting behind, to Jimmy Jones. I remerbered hearing the track from when I was a kid, 'cos one of me aunties or somebody used to play it. So I remembered the melody of 'Handy Man' but then when I tried to play it myself I got it all wrong, which was useful really. I was trying to do a classic melodic pop tune, and it had the worst kind of surface prettiness to it. But at the same time, Joy Division was influencing everybody in England. That dark element -- it wasn't that I wanted to be like them, but they brought out something in the darkness of the overall track. In a sense, Bernard Sumner was one of the most influential guitarists and writers of the '80s. There would never have been a U2 or a Cure if it hadn't been for Joy Division."

-Johnny Marr

I've found two different Guitar Pro tab files for this song and I have uploaded them here(right-click to save as).

Here also are the scans from the Smiths debut album piano song book with guitar chord boxes:








Daniel Earwicker's version:




Another version by lzymot:




Here's kusaka2580 on a Ric 330/12:




Here's pljnr on a Tele:




Here's hnavarro on a strat: