Keep on rockin' in the free world (performed live acoustic by Neil Young)
Transcribed by Soenen Martijn (martijnsoenen@hotmail.com) 20:01 19/12/2000
NOTES: this is the acoustic version of the song. Neil plays it tuning his guitar
one step down (DGCFAD). I play it in standard tuning. On my guitar the song seems
the best in standard tuning. This is one of the most beautiful songs I know with
extremely good lyrics.
In the times of a commie-hater like Nixon, America seemed the promised land
and the USA was called "the free world" as a reaction against communism. But
although America wasn't a dream or the promised land. In the USA, there was
also poverty, there was a lot of hypocrisy, there was a lot of violence (certainly
cynical or ironical (call it what you want) protest against the examples of the
"American Dream". Or maybe the message is just: keep on rockin' in the free world!
CHORDS used in this song:
EADGBE EADGBE
Em7 022030 Em 022000
D 000323 A x02220
C x32010 G/A x00000
G 320003
This is an example of how you can play the intro and the verse. It's hard to put this intro in tabs.
You have to find it out yourself actually. When you start to play the intro with the Em chord it
sounds good if you add your little finger (Em7) just before the chord change to D.
INTRO:
Em Em7 D C
e |----0--0--0--0--0--2--2--0--0--0--0----------------------------------------|
B |----0--0--0--3--3--3--3--1--1--1--1----------------------------------------|
G |----0--0--0--0--0--2--2--0--0--0--0----------------------------------------|
D |----2--2--2--2--2--0--0--2--2--2--2----------------------------------------|
A |----2--2--2--2--2--------3--3--3--3----------------------------------------|
E |--0------------------------------------------------------------------------| X 4
VERSES:
Em D C
e |--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------------------2--2--2-------0--0--0--0---------------------|
B |--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------------------3--3--3-------1--1--1--1---------------------|
G |--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------------------2--2--2-------0--0--0--0---------------------|
D |--2--2--2--2--2--2--2--2------------------0--0--0-------2--2--2--2---------------------|
A |--2--2--2--2--2--2--2--2--------------------------------3--3--3--3---------------------|
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
Colors on the street
Red, white, and blue
People shuffling their feet
People sleeping in their shoes
There's a warning sign in the road ahead
There's a lot of people saying we'd be better off dead
Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them
So I try forget them any way I can
I see a girl in the night
with a baby in her hands
Under an old street light
near a garbage can
Now she put her kid away, she's gone to get a hit
She hates her life, and what she's done with it
That's one more kid, that'll never go to school
Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool
CHORUS:
G D C Em G/A
e |--3--3--3----2--2--2--2--2--2--2-------0----0--|--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------|
B |--0--0--0----3--3--3--3--3--3--3-------1----1--|--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------|
G |--0--0--0----2--2--2--2--2--2--2-------0----0--|--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------|
D |--0--0--0----0--0--0--0--0--0--0-------2----2--|--2--2--2--0--0--0--0------|
A |--2--2--2------------------------------3----3--|--2--2--2--0--0--0--0------|
E |--3--3--3--------------------------------------|---------------------------| X 4
Keep on rocking in the free world X 4
INTERLUDE: (played after each chorus goes something like this:)
A G/A A G/A A G/A
e |--0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0----0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0---0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0------------|
B |--2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2----2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2---2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2------------|
G |--2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2----2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2---2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2------------|
D |--2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2----2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2---2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2------------|
A |--0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0----0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0---0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0------------|
E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
OUTRO: (Neil ends live with hitting the chords once quite hard)
e |--3~~~~~~~~------2----0---------------------------------------|
B |--0~~~~~~~~------3----1---------------------------------------|
G |--0~~~~~~~~------2----0---------------------------------------|
D |--0~~~~~~~~------0----2---------------------------------------|
A |--2~~~~~~~~-----------3---------------------------------------|
E |--3~~~~~~~~---------------------------------------------------|
Keep on rocking in the free world
keep on rocking in the free world
keep on rocking in the free world
keep on rocking in the free world
Popular Young Neil tabs and chords
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