Chords for Percy Sledge accepts award Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductions 2005

_ _ _ _ [A] Unbelievable. _ _
[F#] _ _ _ _ You know, _
_ _ _ _ _ _ [A] _
a little guy _ _ _ _ _ _ born in a little town called Leighton, Alabama,
_ _ _ _ way back [G#] in the year of [F#] 1940, _ _ _
_ _ _ [D] ten years old, [F#]
singing my songs in the fields, _ _ picking, chopping
cotton. _ _
And [G] my boss [F#] man tells me one [A#] day, he said, Purse, _ _ _ _ he [G#] said, that voice that you
use [D] in there coming out of your [D#m] throat, _ _ the whole world is going to hear it one day.
[D] _ _ _
_ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[D] I
never in [C#] my life thought [D#] that I could go so far from that one sentence _ _ _ [F#] from Mr.
Bill McCormick
of Leighton, Alabama. _ _
[D] But I thank God, [F#] _ _ _ _
_ [C#m] and I thank all [F#m] of you and all of my fans [G] of the
world _ [F#]
for _ being so wonderful _ to me and loving me, _ loving my songs and my work. _ _ _
[G] God knows
that I've sung [A] my songs so deeply [F#] from my heart, _ [A] _ _ _ from all the love that I could give
[F#] to you. _
And now look at me today, _ _ [F#m]
with some of the most greatest people in the world,
I hang my [F] picture next to them, like the old [F#] Jays, Rod Stewart, so many, many, many, many
great singers. _ _
All _ _ _ because of you _ [G] _ and the love that [F#m] I had to put out [G] _ and to show [F#m] you
how I felt about [F#] you and you pay me _ _ with one of the most greatest _ _ _ awards that any _ _ _ _ entertainer
in [G#] the world could ever receive.
_ _ I'm not going to talk too much, but I want to thank _ _ Mr.
Quinn Ivey, _ Mr.
Marlon Green, _ _ _ his lovely three wives, Ms.
Jeannie Green, Donna Thaster,
_ [A] _
all of [G#] Muscle Shoals, [F#] _ Alabama. _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ And [A] take my little country boy with a voice _ and _ sending
him on his way.
_ [F] I also [D] want to thank [A#] my second [G] producer, _ [F#] _ _ Mr.
David Johnson _ _ of Muscle Shoals,
Alabama.
_ [G] Now he's one of [D] the big executives [F#] of Alabama Hall of Fame.
_ _ [G#] And I also want to
[F#] thank _ Jerry _ [A] Wexler. _ _
_ [N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ [F#] _ _ _ _ _ _
_ He is the [E] ears. _
[A#m] _ _ [A#] _ _ _ [E] He's one of the most greatest men I ever met in my
life [G#] _
in the history of the world of music, entertainment, [C#] _ and people.
_ He had so [F#] much
love to [A] give to everybody, so much [G#] confidence.
_ _ He could make you feel like you could reach
the sky to heaven as far as you can go _ with just speaking.
_ _ And I also _ _ [B] want to move on
down south a little bit further to Macon, Georgia, _ _ [D#]
and I want to thank the Waldens. _
_ That's Phil Walden, Alan Walden, _ and Pop Walden, their daddy.
[F#] _
_ _ _ He said, Percy, _
_ _ _ [G#] he said,
you stand around here talking about how much [F#] you love Otis and [E] how [F#] great you think [A] Otis
is. _ _
He said, but I'm going to [D] make you a bigger star than Otis.
[F#] _ _ _ _ But I'm [A] still climbing, [F#] trying
to see a little shit. _
But he was such a _ great guy that gave you spunk also.
That was Mr.
[D] Pop Walden of Macon, Georgia.
_ I want to thank Tony Cobbs, _ guy all the way from the West
Indies.
_ _ For many years, [B] he has spinned my records from the West Indies, the Caribbean,
to [A#] New York City.
_ _ _ _ [N]
He's one of the world's most greatest _ DJs.
I want to thank my manager
of Germany _ _ that broke me into Europe. _ _
And he worked with me for 29 years straight.
_ Never
missed a year [A] out of 29 years of going to Germany, _ Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, England,
all over Europe _ _ by the name of Mr.
Chris Nohr out of [A#m] Moorfield, Germany.
_ _ [A] I also want to
thank my producers that I have today. _
_ And I love them.
_ That's keeping my legendary going
on.
_ [G#] _ That's Mr.
David Stoll and Barry [A] Goldsberg _ of Los [F#] Angeles, California. _ _
[A#] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
I [A] want to thank _ _ _
a steamroller, Velvet Steamroller, _ the [G#] company out of [F#] Chicago, _ _ _
[A] _ that's _ financing my latest
CD called Shining Through the Rain. _
You know, it's so wonderful [A#]
to have people _ that just
won't let you go.
_ [G#] Just reach down and pick you up and have [D] somebody all [A#m] the time.
[C#] And
I want to thank Jonathan and his sister, [A] Lizette, for finding me one more time.
_ Now, _ most of
all, _ I want to thank God _ for being so good to me through my life, through my career. _
[G#] And I want to thank the number one fans of the world, and that's Percy [D] Sledge's fans.
And [N] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ the _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [A] most important person in my life, _ _ I never will forget, _ the first time I met
her.
_ [N] She grabbed me by the ear _ and said, now you belongs to me.
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _ _
[D] _ That's my lovely wife, _
Miss Rosa Sledge, sitting somewhere [G#] out here.
_ _ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ [N] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
A man can make so many moves in life.
He can
do so many great things in [F#] life.
_ _ [A#m] _ But without a great woman, _ _ he ain't getting nowhere.
[G] _ _ _ _ [D] My lovely wife, Rosa, [A#] _ _ _ _ is [A] my life, my heart, _ _ my stone, _ [G#] my backbone, _ my brain, _ [F] and ain't
going to say nothing else.
_ _ _ _ [F#] _ _
But I _ _ _ _ want to say also to my valet, old Jabbo, because [G#m] I know
he's going to be watching this.
He said, hey [C#] man, don't forget to call my name.
_ _ But I want
to say thanks to [N] _ _
Hall of Fame _ for thinking about old Percy _ and not forgetting about me.
And thank you, most of all, and I want to say God bless you. _ _ _ _