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Songs with only 2 chords
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Subject: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,Gene Date: 15 Feb 02 - 08:52 PM How many songs with ONLY 2 chords can you list? This idea occurred to me from a previous post [below]
LOOK WHAT THOUGHTS WILL DO |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Pene Azul Date: 15 Feb 02 - 08:58 PM Two chord songs needed BS: Two chord songs |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Lepus Rex Date: 15 Feb 02 - 09:02 PM "Two Chord Song" by the Swedish band Whale? I guess that's it from me. I suck. ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Little Hawk Date: 15 Feb 02 - 09:04 PM Achy Breaky Heart - LH |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: michaelr Date: 15 Feb 02 - 09:22 PM ANY Cajun song! |
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Subject: ADD: JAMBALAYA (On The Bayou) From: GUEST Date: 15 Feb 02 - 10:07 PM I kinda had in mind listing the lyrics and chords to the songs for the benefit of others.... Not just song titles-tho that does help identify many songs with only 2 chords... JAMBALAYA (On The Bayou) Written & recorded by: Hank Williams, Sr [1] Goodbye Joe, me gotta go, me oh [5-7] my oh Me gotta go pole the pirogue down the [1] bay-ou My Yvonne, the sweetest one, me oh [5-7] my oh Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the [1] bay-ou CHORUS: Jambalaya and a crawfish pie and fillet gum-bo 'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma-cher a-mi-o Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bay-ou Thi-bo-daux, Fon-tain-eaux, the place is buzzin' Kinfolk come to see Yvonne by the dozen Dress in style, go hog wild, me oh my oh Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bay-ou CHORUS TAG: Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bay-ou
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 15 Feb 02 - 10:14 PM Why two? If you get a nice rolling rhythm fingerpicking, you can do John Henry in C7(the way Wade Mainer and His Mountaineers do it) and I do The Farmer's Curst Wife completely in G7. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Hilary Date: 15 Feb 02 - 10:28 PM How about ... Blackwater side : One (E) evening fair, I took the air, O, down(G) by Blackwater side, It(E) was gazing o'er & around me, That the Irish(G) lad I espied A quick glance through the Christy Moore songbook : The Little Drummer has just Cm & Bb,(or D & Em etc) I'm sure you can figure when it changes. I noticed that one myself earlier this evening. As I Roved Out : Am & G etc And The Well Below The Valley just Dm - though the version I do has a few more that that ! There's others, but it's 3.30am. Good luck Hilary |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Bobert Date: 15 Feb 02 - 10:40 PM Yeah, why two. Dylan's "Ballad of Hollis Brown" in A minor, flag to flag... And not a bad song to get a novice guitar player into feelin' good about that hurting feeling in his or her fingers... |
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Subject: Lyr/Chords Add: OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE (Merle Haggard) From: GUEST,Gene Date: 16 Feb 02 - 03:38 AM Okie From Muskogee Recorded by: Merle Haggard Written by: Merle Haggard & Roy Burris
[1] We don't smoke marijuana in Muskogee
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Cappuccino Date: 16 Feb 02 - 04:07 AM What is very embarrassing is to play a song in two chords and then find that everybody else knows the complicated version with all the minor demented sixteenths! - Ian B |
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Subject: ADD: Fireball Mail From: GUEST,2 Chord: Fireball Mail Date: 16 Feb 02 - 11:19 AM What was that old song, Late Last Night???? The TAG line should be [5-7] in Okie From Muskogee!
TAG: [5-1] We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse In Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S. [1] A.
Engineer-- makin' up time
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: 53 Date: 16 Feb 02 - 12:12 PM Down in the Valley, |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: berk Date: 16 Feb 02 - 01:13 PM You can play these songs with two chords and sound somewhat presentable: Wild Mountain Tyme, Reilly's daughter, Goodbye Mushin Durkin, Goodbye Mick, and Big Strong Man. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: RAMBLIN' MAN (Hank Williams) From: GUEST,Gene Date: 16 Feb 02 - 01:49 PM RAMBLIN' MAN Written & recorded by: Hank Williams, Sr. I can [6m/Am] settle down and be doin' just fine Til I [3-7/E-7] hear an old train Rollin' down the [6m/Am] line Then I hurry straight home and pack And if I [3-7/E-7] didn't go I believe I'd blow my [6m/Am] stack I love you baby, but you gotta understand When the [3-7/E-7] Lord made me He made a Ramblin'[6m/Am] Man. Some folks might say that I'm no good That I wouldn't settle down if I could But when that open road starts to callin' me There's somethin' o'er the hill that I gotta see Sometimes it's hard but you gotta understand When the Lord made me, He made a Ramblin' Man. I love to see the towns a-passin' by And to ride these rails 'neath God's blue sky Let me travel this land from the mountains to the sea 'Cause that's the life I believe He meant for me And when I'm gone and at my grave you stand Just say God called home your Ramblin' Man.
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,pioneer Date: 16 Feb 02 - 02:00 PM Shady Grove (D minor, A minor) and The Cuckoo (A minor, G) and lots of Irish stuff. For one-chord tunew, just about any bugle tune (Reville, Taps, etc.) because a bugle can only play a few notes easily. Dan Crary did a fine bugler's rag on one of his albums.... Bob H |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Mudlark Date: 16 Feb 02 - 02:43 PM Lady from Carlisle can be done with 2 chords only...and it's long, and a great story. I Am a Lonely and a Lonesome Traveler, Drunken Sailor can be done w/2, |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: kendall Date: 16 Feb 02 - 02:49 PM The Convict and the rose |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 16 Feb 02 - 03:30 PM The beautiful Welsh ballad, Lisa Lan, all done in D and C. Ian B: for interesting new sounds, put your fingers in position for well known chords, then lift one finger off and see if you like the sound. For example, play a G chord and lift your finger off the highest string. The result is quite nice. If anybody asks you what that intellectual new chord was, say something like "I believe it's an augmented 11th." That's what the rest of us do. |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Allan S Date: 16 Feb 02 - 03:38 PM I ride an old paint Handsome Molly |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,Gene Date: 16 Feb 02 - 04:10 PM Thanks for the various song titles and comments--- I should have stated up front that I was thinking about songs that were ORIGINALLY written and recorded with only 2 chords...not for songs that COULD be played with 2 chords...
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Chicken Charlie Date: 16 Feb 02 - 04:27 PM Oh, now you tell us. Anyway, it's thread creep time. There's an anecdote in Pete Seeger's "Incomplete Folk Singer" about how he struggled with this one song for years trying to figure out exactly when to change into the second chord. Eventually he decided that there was no second chord. Yes, it sort of depends on how much dissonance/tension you want. "Blackjack Davey" might be done all the way thru on the tonic, or with two chords, or, if you want to show off [?!] with three. CC |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,truckerdave Date: 16 Feb 02 - 04:56 PM To carry this one step further, i play several one chord songs. A lot of old slide guitar blues just used one chord. I know it sounds stupid but it works. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: JIMMY BROWN THE NEWSBOY (A. P. Carter) From: GUEST,Gene Date: 16 Feb 02 - 05:27 PM A Version of: Jimmy Brown, The Newsboy Recorded by: A.P. Carter & MANY OTHERS [1] You will hear me yelling, Morning Star As I run along the [5-7] street I have no hat upon my head No shoes upon my [1] feet I'm awful cold and hungry, Sir My clothes are torn and thin I wander about from place to place My daily bread to win Refrain: [1] I sell the morning papers, Sir My name is Jimmy [5-7] Brown Most everybody knows I am The newsboy of the [1] town Never mind, Sir, how I look Don't look at me and frown I sell the morning papers, Sir My name is Jimmy Brown My father was a drunkard, Sir I've heard my mother say And I am helping mother, Sir As I journey on my way Refrain: My mother always tells me, Sir I've nothing in the world to lose I'll get a place in heaven, Sir To sell the Gospel News So never mind, Sir, how I look Don't look at me and frown I sell the morning papers, Sir My name is Jimmy Brown Refrain: Note. Lyrics for a version by Flatt & Scruggs are in the Database. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: HONKY TONKIN' (Hank Williams) From: GUEST,Gene Date: 16 Feb 02 - 05:29 PM HONKY TONKIN' Words and music by Hank Williams [Sr.] 1. When [1] you are sad and lonely and have no place to go, Come to see me, baby, and bring along some dough CHORUS: And we'll go honky tonkin', honky tonkin' Honky tonkin', honey baby, We'll go honky tonkin' [5-7] 'round this [1] town. 2. When you and your baby have a fallin' out, Call me up, sweet mama, and we'll go steppin' out--CHORUS 3. We're goin' into the city, to the city fair. If you go to the city, baby, you will find me there--CHORUS Repeat CHORUS. |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: M.Ted Date: 16 Feb 02 - 07:02 PM When you are talking about tradional tunes, there is no original recording, and no way to know how they were written----chords are just block of notes that harmonize with the melody, and you can harmonize any melody just about any old way you want, depending on the sound you are looking for--In another thread, talked about playing the main melody of "Blue Moon" using only one chord--instead of sounding simple. it sounds very out there and jazzy--when you think about it, anything you play on a five string banjo can be considered to be a one chord tune, because the drone/root is always the same-- |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Murray MacLeod Date: 16 Feb 02 - 07:11 PM "Leather boots are still in style if a man needs footwear ?????
How about the way Merle wrote it "Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear" God help us all if Merle Haggard's songs are going to be candidates for the so-called folk process. Murray
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,Gene Date: 16 Feb 02 - 11:00 PM I think Merle sings - ['Fa-Man needs footwear] If A Man needs footware... and all published sheet music I have ever seen lists it that way, including MERLE's SONGBOOK...
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,truckerdav e Date: 17 Feb 02 - 10:58 AM Well then, the published sheet music and MERLE'S SONGBOOK must be wrong. It's manly footwear. I've seen lot's of lyrics and sheet music that varied from the song lyrics as they were sung. I've even made some minor changes in my own copywrighted lyrics after a while of singing them. "if a man needs footwear" should go on the misheard lyrics site. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: LET'S TURN BACK THE YEARS (Hank Williams) From: GUEST,Gene Date: 17 Feb 02 - 11:09 AM LET'S TURN BACK THE YEARS Written & recorded by: Hank Williams [1] Darlin', Let's turn back the years And go back to yester-[5-7]-day Let's pretend that time has stopped And I didn't go a-[1]-way [1] We had our love to make us happy It wasn't meant to bring us [5-7] tears Love like ours should never die So Darlin', Let's Turn Back The [1] Years Note. Also recorded by Waylon Jennings.
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST Date: 17 Feb 02 - 11:26 AM Purely out of interest I did a Google search on "manly footwear" and "if a man needs footwear"
Result "manly footwear"" - 34 "If a man needs footwear"- 5 But really, all you have to do is ask yourself, would Merle Haggard really have written such a meaningless line as "Leather boots are still in style if a man needs footwear" ? Murray |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,old head Date: 17 Feb 02 - 12:22 PM what about "dance the night away".p.s. one chord songs, nilsson's "coconut". |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST Date: 18 Feb 02 - 08:24 AM ...most of Zappa's musical interludes between his "commercial" stuff (i.e., the songs with lyrics in them)... For example, "Shut Up 'n' Play Yer Guitar;" "Shut Up 'n' Play Yer Guitar Some More;" and "Return Of The Son Of Shut Up 'n' Play Yer Guitar." |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Noreen Date: 18 Feb 02 - 04:15 PM Step it out Mary |
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Subject: Lyric Correction: Jambalaya From: GUEST,Argenine Date: 11 Mar 02 - 11:00 AM In the vein of lyric corrections, in "Jambalaya" it is Chorus: "Jambalaya and a crawfish pie,filé gumbo, 'Cause tonight I'm gonna see my ma chèr amie-o. Pick guitar, fill fruit jar and be gay-o . Son of a gun, we'll have big fun on the bay-ou.
Thibaudaux, Fontaineaux, the place is buzzin'.
Arge |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Grab Date: 12 Mar 02 - 08:11 AM Clementine. Donald where's your troosers. Also Flower of Scotland (particularly if you consider it played on pipes). Technically, you could also could Queen's "We will rock you" in this as well - one power chord, then a series of riffs around another chord. Graham. |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: greg stephens Date: 12 Mar 02 - 08:38 AM Two very appropriate quotes from Woody Guthrie,. " I've pounded out "Ida Red","Old Joe Clark", Old Judge Parker take your Shackles Offa Me" foras high as thirty or forty minutes with no more than two chords,D to A, D to A and D to A ten blue jillion times through a square dance. Lots of the old fullblood fiddlers will toss youdown from the platform if you go to getting too fancy with your chording". And also:" I only used straight C chord all the way down the line on the "Buffalo Skinners",just CCCCCCCCCCC and right down to Birmingham and then on down toJacksboro and then out past El Paso and then on up into New Mexico.CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC picking finger style". He also didn't think much chord books. " I can't play any chord by looking at any book and never could" and "I'll bet you chording books that Leadbelly has used in his greening and grey years wouldn't make a pile bigenough for you to find on your floor" Righton, Woody! |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: 53 Date: 12 Mar 02 - 10:21 PM Mendocino, and She's about a mover by the Sir Douglas Quintet. Both of them are good songs. |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,T-boy Date: 13 Mar 02 - 08:14 AM Then there's 'Like a Possum' on Lou Reed's Ecstacy CD - only 2 chords and lasts 18 minutes. That's an average of 9 minutes per chord. Outrageous! |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,Guest Date: 13 Mar 02 - 09:46 AM Read a quote from Woody Guthrie; "...anything more than three chords and you're just showing off." Amazing ain't it? So to all you flashy pan pickers out there try and relax. |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Armen Tanzerian Date: 13 Mar 02 - 01:53 PM As some one has already said, any cajun song -- providing you don't count the traditional ending where they wind up on the one-and-only 4-chord. Someone explained this to me once -- is it that the accordion is actualy playing in its "draw" key and has to be closed at the end? "How does it go, Vassar?" [Merit badge for the source of that quote.] |
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Subject: Lyr Add: DEAR JOHN (A Gass, Tex Ritter) From: GUEST,Gene Date: 19 Mar 02 - 04:18 PM RE: Mentioned in separate post DEAR JOHN As recorded by: Hank Williams Written by: A. Gass & Tex Ritter [1]Well when I Woke up this Mornin' There was a Note upon my Door Said don't Make me no Coffee, Babe 'Cause I Won't be back no More And that's all She Wrote, Dear John I've [5-7] Sent your Saddle [1] Home CHORUS Now Jonah Got along in the Belly of the Whale Daniel in the Lion's Den But I know a Guy that didn't Try to get Along And he won't Get a Chance Again And that's all She Wrote, Dear John I've Sent your Saddle Home Now she didn't Forward no Address Nor she didn't Say Goodbye All she Said was if you Get Blue Just Hang your Little Head and Cry And that's all She Wrote, Dear John I've Sent your Saddle Home Now my gal's Short and Stubby She's Strong as she can Be But if that Little old Gal of Mine Ever get's A-hold of Me That's all she Wrote, Dear John I've Sent your Saddle Home CHORUS Now I Went Down to the Bank this Mornin' The Cashier Said with a Grin I Feel so Sorry for you, Hank But your Wife has done Been In And that's all She Wrote, Dear John I've Sent your Saddle Home SOURCE: HANK WILLIAMS POLYDOR |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: Cool Beans Date: 16 Aug 16 - 02:43 PM How Much is That Doggie in the Window? My Dixie Darlin' (Carter Family) |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST, DTM Date: 16 Aug 16 - 06:09 PM Dance the Night Away - The Mavericks A band I played with did this song. It used to do my head in. The most boring song in the world to play. "Chain chain chain" by Aretha Franklin has one chord but it's not boring. |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,Roger Knowles Date: 17 Aug 16 - 12:27 PM My Darling Clementine? |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,DTM Date: 17 Aug 16 - 03:09 PM Oops, two posts up should read "Chain Of Fools" not 'Chain (x 3)' |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: The Sandman Date: 17 Aug 16 - 04:56 PM pastures of plenty, little birdie,tom dooley,murshim durkin. |
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Subject: RE: Songs with only 2 chords From: GUEST,Desi C Date: 18 Aug 16 - 05:24 AM One I've just learnt and a good singalong song Down In The Valley I do it in A7 E7 Very simple and ideal for a learner |
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