Radio John
View chords used in this chart
Afinação: E A D G B ECapotraste: Sem capotraste
Radio John (Sam Bush)’
[Verse]
D
Started out working in the summertime
A D
docks of the Mississippi, Valley barge Line
D
Stoking towboats on those long hot days
A D
Getting half days off, sometimes with pay
D
Became a steamboat captain
D
Wrote the songs to Mark Twang
A D
Rolling down the river to New Orleans
[Chorus]
G D
Oh, I can hear something coming up around the bend
G A
It's the Julia Belle Swain, boys, gleaming and steaming on in
D
And it's Radio John standing at the helm
A D
With a wave and a smile and some yarn to tell
[Verse]
D
He loved life on the river and the fiddle tunes
A D
Of blind Ed Haley and Benny Martin too
D
He always played them songs with a Vamp in the Middle
A D
With a hustle and a shuffle and a skittle wah diddle
D
He wrote songs every day, lord, he'd scratch and scribble
A D
So the tunes that he wrote, he could play on his fiddle
[Chorus]
G. D
Well, I went up the river come away last Sunday night
G A
With my fiddle and my banjer and my baby there to hold me tight
D
A banjo man, he rolled while he sang
A D
With rhythm like a piston on a railroad train
[Verse]
D
Gotta see Radio John with his two-toned shoes
A D
A-slipping and a-sliding while he danced for you
D
He knew every crooked turn, up 'n' down the Mississippi
A D
He was a Huckleberry Finn, an airwaves hippie
D
Radio John, a steamboat troubadour
A D
A Mississippi Sawyer, like we'd never seen before
[Chorus]
G D
He spun those tunes in St. Louie and Illinois, they say
G A
He played Bill, Earl and Lester and some boys named Bray
D
You could hear his voice every night 'til dawn
A. D
So cut your television off and turn your radio on
D
It's Radio John
[Verse]
D
He danced, and he played in the bars and the halls
A D
While he was tapping his shoes, we was having a ball
D
Yeah, Radio John had us all sing along
A D
Just a-clapping and a-stomping to every one of his songs
[Outro]
G D
He could make us happy and sometimes make us cry
G A
And looking back now, I wish we never had to say goodbye
D
It was 6-9-0 KSTL
A D
Where he played those songs we all knew so well
D
Radio John
How to play Radio John
Use the controls above to change the key and text size. Follow the highlighted chords while listening, then practice each section slowly before playing at the original tempo.
What is the starting chord?
The first identified chord is E. You can transpose without leaving the page.
Can I play it on guitar or keyboard?
Yes. The chord progression works on acoustic guitar, electric guitar and keyboard. Adapt the voicings to your instrument and level.