50 Ways To Leave Your Lover | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: drums :|| x6
| Em/G D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 | Em B7/D# | F#dimadd4b5 Em/B |
| Em D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 | Em Am7 | Em |
Verse 1
| Em/G D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 |
The problem is all inside your head, she said to me.
| Em B7/D# | F#dimadd4 Em/B |
The answer is easy if you take it logically.
| Em D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 |
I’d like to help you in your struggle to be free.
| Em Am7 | Em |
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover.
Verse 2
| Em/G D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 |
She said, “It’s really not my habit to intrude.
| Em B7/D# | F#dimadd4 Em/B |
Furthermore, I hope my meaning won’t be lost or misconstrued.
| Em D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 |
But I’ll repeat myself, at the risk of being crude.
| Em Am7 | Em |
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover.
| Em Am7 | Em |
Fifty ways to leave your lover.
Chorus 1
| G5 G7 G6 | Bb6 G7/Bb G6/Bb |
You just slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan.
| Csus2 G7/C G6/C | G5 G7 G6 |
You don’t need to be coy, Roy, just get yourself free.
| G5 G7 G6 | Bb6 G7/Bb G6/Bb |
Hop on the bus, Gus. You don’t need to discuss much.
| Csus2 G7/C G6/C | G5 G7 G6 |
Just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free.
Chorus 2
| G5 G7 G6 | Bb6 G7/Bb G6/Bb |
Ooh, slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan.
| Csus2 G7/C G6/C | G5 G7 G6 |
You don’t need to be coy, Roy, just listen to me.
| G5 G7 G6 | Bb6 G7/Bb G6/Bb |
Hop on the bus, Gus, you don’t need to discuss much.
| Csus2 G7/C G6/C | G | G |
Just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free.
Verse 3
| Em/G D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 |
She said, it grieves me so to see you in such pain.
| Em B7/D# | F#dimadd4 Em/B |
I wish there was something I could do to make you smile again.
| Em D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 |
I said, I appreciate that, and would you please explain,
| Em Am7 | Em |
about the fifty ways?
Verse 4
| Em/G D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 |
She said, why don’t we both just sleep on it tonight?
| Em B7/D# | F#dimadd4 Em/B |
And I believe in the morning, you’ll begin to see the light.
| Em D6 | Cmaj7 B7b9 B7 |
And then she kissed me and I realized she probably was right.
| Em Am7 | Em |
There must be fifty ways to leave your lover.
| Em Am7 | Em |
Fifty ways to leave your lover.
Chorus 3
| G5 G7 G6 | Bb6 G7/Bb G6/Bb |
You just slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan.
| Csus2 G7/C G6/C | G5 G7 G6 |
You don’t need to be coy, Roy, just get yourself free.
| G5 G7 G6 | Bb6 G7/Bb G6/Bb |
Hop on the bus, Gus, you don’t need to discuss much.
| Csus2 G7/C G6/C | G5 G7 G6 |
Just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free.
Chorus 4
| G5 G7 G6 | Bb6 G7/Bb G6/Bb |
Slip out the back, Jack. Make a new plan, Stan.
| Csus2 G7/C G6/C | G5 G7 G6 |
You don’t need to be coy, Roy, just listen to me.
| G5 G7 G6 | Bb6 G7/Bb G6/Bb |
Hop on the bus, Gus, you don’t need to discuss much.
| Csus2 G7/C G6/C | G5 G7 G6 |
Just drop off the key, Lee, and get yourself free.
Outro
||: drums :|| to fade
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover Chords: Learn the progressions
There are many tutorials online claiming they know what the chords for 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover are.
I found after spending several hours with this tune that they were not 100% correct.
The main thing is the second line of the verse, the chords actually are:
| Em B7/D# | F#dimadd4 Em/B |
Most teachers claim it is this:
| Em D#dim7 | F#dim7 B7b9 B7 |
But there is an open B string in there which means that there are no dim7 chords. Here’s some TAB describing the correct chords for 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover.
What Paul Simon has done here is move his fingers until he is happy, not sit down with the theory book, and produce what is expected of him.
What the teachers claiming there are standard dim7 chords have done is assume that they are dim7 chords because it makes sense, this is very common.
Pretty much every time I get chords wrong is down to assuming it must be something that makes theoretical sense, rather than properly listening with an open mind.
Members get a full analysis of the chord progression, with TAB, including a part I arranged for the chorus. I had to do this as the original has several layered parts.
Here’s a link to the full lesson: 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
50 Ways To Leave Your Lover is every drummer’s favourite Paul Simon tune!
Every drummer’s favourite tune (even ahead of Rosanna!) 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover doesn’t just have an awesome drum groove by Steve Gadd, it also has some great chords!
Released in 1975 on Paul Simon’s 4th solo album Still Crazy After All These Years, it was an instant classic, alongside the title track.
The ’70s was an incredible era for Simon who previously to 50 Ways had just released Tenderness as a single from the album There Goes Rhymin’ Simon (1973).
It’s easy to think of Paul Simon as the ’60s Simon & Garfunkel and the ’80s with Graceland and You Can Call Me Al which are also brilliant but to me, his ’70s catalogue is next level.
If you have a vinyl player, find these albums mentioned and prepare to be properly blown away.
For some reason ’68-’75 was the golden era of music, be it The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, or the man responsible for 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover, Mr Paul Simon. Those 7 years will probably never be topped.
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About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about 50 Ways To Leave Your Lover chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
