Take Me to the River (written by Al Green; as performed by the Talking Heads)
Verse 1
[E7]Don’t know why I love you like I do [D] [A]
[E7]All the changes you put me through [D] [A]
[E7]You take my money, my cigarettes [D] [A]
[E7] I haven't seen the worst of it [D] [A]
Chorus
I wanna [C]know can you [G]tell me, [D]I love to [A7]stay,
Take me to the [E7]river; [D]Drop me [A]in the [E7]water;
Take me to the [E7]river; [D]Drop me [A]in the [E7]water;
[D]Washing [A]me [E7]down; [D]Washing [A]me down[E7]
Turnaround Asus4 A D A (add lib)
Verse 2 E7 - - - / - - D A/
Don’t know why you treat me so bad
Think of all the things we could have had
Love’s anoceanI can’t forget
My sweet sixteen now I will never regret
Chorus
I wanna [C]know can you [G]tell me, [D]I love to [A7]stay,
Take me to the [E7] river; [D]Drop me [A]in the [E7]water;
Take me to the [E7] river; [D]Dip me [A]in the [E7]water;
[D]Washing [A]me [E7]down; [D]Washing [A]me
Bridge
[C#m]Hold me; [A7]squeeze me; [C#m] love me; [A7]tease me
[G] ‘till I can’t…. [B7] ‘till I can’t… I can’t take no more
Take me to the [E7] river; [D]Drop me [A]in the [E7]water;
Take me to the [E7] river; [D]Dip me [A]in the [E7]water;
[D]Washing [A]me [E7]down; [D]Washing [A]me [E7]down
Turnaround Asus4 A D A (add lib)
Verse 3
[E7Don’t know why I love you like I do [D] [A]
[E7]All the changes you put me through [D] [A]
[E7]Sixteen candles there on my wall [D] [A]
[E7] Here am I the biggest fool of them all [D] [A]
Chorus
I wanna [C]know can you [G]tell me, [D]I love to [A7]stay,
Take me to the [E7] river; [D]Drop me [A]in the [E7]water;
Take me to the [E7] river; [D]Drop me [A]in the [E7]water;
[D]Washing [A]me [E7]down; [D]Washing [A]me
Outro
[D]Nah [A]Nah Nah Nah [E7]Nah, yeah
[D]yeah [A]yeah [E7]yeah
Take Me to the River (Al Green, et al)
Intro E7 Asus4 A(repeat vamp to verse 1)
E7 Asus4 A
Verse 1 I don't know why I love you like I do
E7 Asus4 A
After all the changes you put me through
E7 Asus4 A
You took my money and my cigarettes
E7 Asus4 A
And I ain't seen hide nor hair of you yet
C G D A A7
Chorus I wanna know, won't you tell me, I'd love to say...
E7 Asus4 A E7
Take me to the river, wash me down
E7 E7+5 Asus4 A E
Take me to the water, put my feet on the ground
turnaround Asus4 A
Verse 2 I don't know why she treated me so bad
After all the things that we could have had
Love is emotion that I can't forget
My sweet sixteen I will never regret (repeat chorus)
Dbm A
Bridge Hold me, love me
Dbm A
Please me, baby you can squeeze me
B E7
Til I drown, til I drown, til I drown, I'm gonna take you to the river
Verse 3 I don't know why I love you like I do
After all the changes you been putting me through
Your sixteen candles are burnin' on my wall
Telling me how you made a fool of them all (repeat chorus)
Verse chords: E7 0 2 0 1 3 0 or...
E7 0 7 6 7 5 0 (I like this version better)
Asus4 x 0 4 2 3 0
A x 0 2 2 2 0
chorus chords:
C x 3 5 5 x x or...
C x 3 5 5 0 0(jangly)
G 3 5 5 x x x
D x 5 7 7 x x
A x 0 2 2 2 0(if you can get to it)
A 5 7 7 x x x(if you can't)
A7 x 0 7 6 8 x(funky chord, mute the A string)
rest of the chorus chords like the verse chords, except...
E7+5 0 7 6 7 8 0(mute both E strings or let 'em ring)
Bridge chords:
Dbm x 4 6 6 5 x
A x 0 2 2 2 x
B x 2 4 4 x x or...
B x 2 4 4 0 0 (jangly)
B7 x x 4 2 4 x or...
B7 x x 9 8 10 x (funky)
Take Me to the River - Page 1 of 4