Chords for John Mellencamp | Life, Death, Love & Freedom EPK

Tempo:
91.25 bpm
Chords used:

G

A

Bm

D

E

Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
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John Mellencamp | Life, Death, Love & Freedom EPK chords
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[G#]
It's getting older, ain't for [B] cowards It's [F#] getting older's a lot [B] to go through
When I [Dm] first started writing for this record, I didn't [Bm] know I was writing for a record,
I was just writing songs.
All the songs for this record were written [D] probably in over a 12 day [E] period.
And then once I [Bm] realized that all the songs were kind of going in a specific direction,
then I started chasing that, started going after that, [Em] started trying to write songs
that were in the American folk songbook tradition.
He had sent me the material, I think John wrote the material very quickly in like a
week or two, anticipating [D] just going and doing that [G] kind of record.
He called up and said, you want to come make a record [Em] in a week?
And I said, absolutely, those are [F#] my favorite kind of record.
We were going to do it with just him and his acoustic guitar.
We weren't exactly sure what we were going to end up with when we started.
There's a spontaneity to John, but there's also this method, I think.
It's kind of that yin and yang with him.
[D] He's thinking through how he [E] wants it to go.
He has definite opinions and ideas of how I think he envisions [Em] the song when it's finished.
[F] [G] You [Dm] know, John is a great [Am] storyteller.
The thing I locked onto [G] was that every one of the songs was a story and very evocative.
[G] [Dm] [F]
[G] [Dm]
[Am] [G] [Am]
[G]
[Dm] There's a bunch of wonderful tremolo and [G] reverb guitars on it, [D] background vocals.
[Am] I think it [F] served the song well.
[Am]
[F] [G] [Dm]
[G] You have to [Am] look at the original [G] song itself, playing it on an acoustic [Am] guitar,
listen to the lyric and build from there.
Whatever is required to make that song [A] live is what you have to do.
[D] [Am]
[E] [A]
[C] For what [Bm] we've got.
[C] [Em] For what we've got.
[C] [D]
Timon, why don't you play it and I'll go ahead and sing it.
[A] You play it and I'll sing it.
[C] I have worried [G] about many things, [C] most of which did not [G] come to pass.
[B] I can only write about what [D#] I understand and [Em] what I think I understand and what I've experienced.
Whenever [G] I've tried to write songs that [Em] were just made up songs, they [A#m] didn't come out so good.
[G#]
[F#]
[G#] That [B] might be my favorite track on the [G#] record.
[F#m] It's so sparse and [C#] beautiful and aching.
[F#] It's just me and John playing [C#] five feet between us.
[F#] Two [C#] different microphones and [Fm] John had this green hat [A#m] on.
[F#] I'll just never forget, [C] I was sitting there [C#] in the big room recording and he was singing and [F#] just living it.
[G#]
[C#] [C#] [Gm] [A#]
[D] [Gm]
T-Bone has a history of making fantastic [G] records.
Basically within the genre that we were talking about, which was folk mixing with rock.
We had great respect for him and ultimately after working with him, I have more respect for him.
An amazing arranger, amazing guitar [Gm] player, amazing conceptualist.
The most important [G] thing to me is when I finish a record, I want people to be able to hear it the way we've [A] heard it when we finished it.
[Bm]
[G] [Bm]
We're going to start releasing records, all of the records that I do, that I'm going to release under a new set of standards we're calling [A] Code.
We're going [Bm] to offer people the [G] kind of [A] sonic experience that [Bm] musicians have.
Code is going to [A] be a little bit like THX.
We're going to be [G] in essence an outsource quality [B] control [E] system.
I [G#] really applaud T-Bone for wanting to bring back [Bm] fidelity [A] because it's the [Bm] art form.
It's part of our art.
So it's [A] time to switch now.
[E] It's time to switch from [Bm] this degraded experience to [G] a much higher level experience.
And that's what we're going to attempt to do.
John's record is the [E] first record we're going to put out [Em] in Code.
Making this record was, [A] I think, a very eye-opening [N] experience for everybody who was involved with it.
We were able to see the possibilities.
Taking a small, little, fragile song and just adding a few little fragile parts to it and trying to make [A] something beautiful.
It was so [E] much fun making the record.
We were doing [F#m] three and four songs a day in some cases.
It was just very inspired, very quick, [D] quick and dirty.
If there's anyone who's ever been interested in John, I think they're going to really hear [A] him.
[E] I think they're going to hear a very unvarnished version of him.
It's definitively him every [E] time.
It's not like you hear a song, even on this record, [F#] you hear it [E] and you don't know that it's John.
You know it's John every time.
So identifiable.
But yet it's always new.
And I really respect him for that.
[Em] The ability to [A] write a great song [D] with the fewest words [A] possible, the fewest musical notes and the [F#m] most impact is what he's striving [G] for.
I know that's what a great songwriter strives for [D] and I think that he's finally reached his zenith on this record.
[A] Sweet love standing at my gate.
[B] Oh my sweet [C] love,
sure would feel good to be good again.
Oh my sweet [Am] love.
[N]
Key:  
G
2131
A
1231
Bm
13421112
D
1321
E
2311
G
2131
A
1231
Bm
13421112
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_ [G#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
It's getting older, ain't for [B] cowards It's [F#] getting older's a lot [B] to go through
When I [Dm] first started writing for this record, I didn't [Bm] know I was writing for a record,
I was just writing songs.
All the songs for this record were written [D] probably in over a 12 day [E] period.
And then once I [Bm] realized that all the songs were kind of going in a specific direction,
then I started chasing that, started going after that, [Em] started trying to write songs
that were in the American folk songbook tradition.
He had sent me the material, I think John wrote the material very quickly in like a
week or two, anticipating [D] just going and doing that [G] kind of record.
He called up and said, you want to come make a record [Em] in a week?
And I said, absolutely, those are [F#] my favorite kind of record.
We were going to do it with just him and his acoustic guitar.
We weren't exactly sure what we were going to end up with when we started.
There's a spontaneity to John, but there's also this method, I think.
It's kind of that yin and yang with him.
[D] He's thinking through how he [E] wants it to go.
He has definite opinions and ideas of how I think he envisions [Em] the song when it's finished.
[F] _ _ _ _ [G] _ You [Dm] know, John is a great [Am] storyteller.
The thing I locked onto [G] was that every one of the songs was a story and very evocative. _ _
_ _ [G] _ _ _ [Dm] _ _ [F] _
_ _ [G] _ _ [Dm] _ _ _ _
[Am] _ _ [G] _ _ _ [Am] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ _
[Dm] _ _ _ _ There's a bunch of wonderful tremolo and [G] reverb guitars on it, [D] background vocals.
[Am] I think it [F] served the song well.
_ _ [Am] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ _ [G] _ _ [Dm] _
[G] You have to [Am] look at the original [G] song itself, playing it on an acoustic [Am] guitar,
listen to the lyric and build from there.
Whatever is required to make that song [A] live is what you have to do. _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [D] _ _ [Am] _
_ [E] _ _ _ _ [A] _ _ _
_ [C] _ For what [Bm] we've got.
_ [C] _ _ _ [Em] For what we've got.
_ [C] _ _ _ _ [D] _ _
Timon, why don't you play it and I'll go ahead and sing it.
[A] You play it and I'll sing it.
[C] I have worried [G] about many things, [C] most of which did not [G] come to pass.
[B] I can only write about what [D#] I understand and [Em] what I think I understand and what I've experienced.
Whenever [G] I've tried to write songs that [Em] were just made up songs, they [A#m] didn't come out so good. _ _ _ _
_ _ [G#] _ _ _ _ _ _
[F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[G#] That [B] might be my favorite track on the [G#] record.
_ [F#m] It's so sparse and [C#] beautiful and aching.
[F#] It's just me and John playing [C#] five feet between us.
[F#] Two [C#] different microphones and [Fm] John had this green hat [A#m] on.
[F#] I'll just never forget, [C] I was sitting there [C#] in the big room recording and he was singing and [F#] just living it.
_ _ _ [G#] _ _ _
[C#] _ _ [C#] _ _ _ [Gm] _ _ [A#] _
[D] _ _ _ _ _ _ [Gm] _ _
T-Bone has a history of making fantastic [G] records.
Basically within the genre that we were talking about, which was folk mixing with rock.
We had great respect for him and ultimately after working with him, I have more respect for him.
An amazing arranger, amazing guitar [Gm] player, amazing conceptualist.
The most important [G] thing to me is when I finish a record, I want people to be able to hear it the way we've [A] heard it when we finished it.
_ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ [G] _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ We're going to start releasing records, all of the records that I do, that I'm going to release under a new set of standards we're calling [A] Code.
We're going [Bm] to offer people the [G] kind of [A] sonic experience that [Bm] musicians have.
Code is going to [A] be a little bit like THX.
We're going to be [G] in essence an outsource quality [B] control [E] system.
I [G#] really applaud T-Bone for wanting to bring back [Bm] fidelity [A] because it's the [Bm] art form.
It's part of our art.
So it's [A] time to switch now.
[E] It's time to switch from [Bm] this degraded experience to [G] a much higher level experience.
And that's what we're going to attempt to do.
John's record is the [E] first record we're going to put out [Em] in Code.
Making this record was, [A] I think, a very eye-opening [N] experience for everybody who was involved with it.
We were able to see the possibilities.
Taking a small, little, fragile song and just adding a few little fragile parts to it and trying to make [A] something beautiful.
It was so [E] much fun making the record.
We were doing [F#m] three and four songs a day in some cases.
It was just very inspired, very quick, [D] quick and dirty.
If there's anyone who's ever been interested in John, I think they're going to really hear _ [A] _ _ him.
[E] I think they're going to hear a very unvarnished version of him.
_ _ It's definitively him every [E] time.
It's not like you hear a song, even on this record, [F#] you hear it [E] and you don't know that it's John.
You know it's John every time.
So identifiable.
But yet it's always new.
And I really respect him for that.
[Em] The ability to [A] write a great song [D] with the fewest words [A] possible, the fewest musical notes and the [F#m] most impact is what he's striving [G] for.
I know that's what a great songwriter strives for [D] and I think that he's finally reached his zenith on this record.
[A] _ Sweet love standing at my gate.
[B] Oh my sweet [C] love,
_ sure would feel good to be good again.
Oh my sweet [Am] love.
[N] _

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