Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: Ab11 | Ab11 :|| x3
| F7sus4 | F7sus4 |
||: Bbm7 | Cm7 Fm7 :|| x4
Chorus 1
||: Bbm7 | Cm7 Fm7 :||
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, we’re on the move!
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, we’ve got the groove!
Verse 1
||: Bbm7 | Cm7 Fm7 :||
There’s been so many things that’s held us down,
but now it looks like things are finally comin’ around.
I know we’ve got, a long, long way to go,
and where we’ll end up, I don’t know.
But we won’t let nothin’ hold us back, we’re putting ourselves together,
we’re polishing up our act, yeah.
If you felt we’ve been held down before,
I know you’ll refuse to be held down any more, well.
Bridge 1
| Ab11 | Ab11 | Ab11 | Ab11 |
Don’t you let nothing, nothing. Stand in your way!
| Ab11 | Ab11 | F7sus4 | F7sus4 |
I want ya’ll to listen, listen. To every word I say, every word I say!
Chorus 1
||: Bbm7 | Cm7 Fm7 :||
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, (no-o) we’re on the move! (huh)
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, we’ve got the groove! (huh)
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, we’re on the move! (I know, I know)
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, we’ve got the groove! (We’ve got it)
Verse 2
||: Bbm7 | Cm7 Fm7 :||
I know you know someone that has a negative vow,
and if you’re trying to make it they only push you aside.
They really don’t have, nowhere to go,
ask them where they’re going, they don’t know.
But we won’t let nothin’ hold us back, we’re gonna put ourselves together,
we’re gonna polish up our act, now.
And if you’ve ever been held down before,
I know you’ll refuse to be held down any more, well.
Bridge 2
| Ab11 | Ab11 | Ab11 | Ab11 |
Don’t you let nothing, nothing. Stand in your way, hell.
| Ab11 | Ab11 | F7sus4 | F7sus4 |
I want ya’ll to listen, listen. To every word I say, every word I say!
Chorus 3
||: Bbm7 | Cm7 Fm7 :||
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, (no, no, no) we’re on the move! (we’re movin’, we’re groovin’).
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, (we’re movin’, yeah) we’ve got the groove! (we’re groovin’, movin’, movin’, movin’, move!).
Ain’t no stoppin’ us now, we’re on the move! (I know, we hit the groove).
Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’s chords and progressions
For a slick R&B/Disco sound, 11 chords are seemingly a must.
As we start out playing Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’s chords, we start with an Ab11 for the intro. This is followed by an F7sus4, which is almost the same thing as an F11.
Later on, these chords will be used for the bridge.
The verse and chorus have the same chords in Bbm7 (chord II) Cm7 (chord III) and Fm7 (chord VI).
When looking at chord progressions, aiming to find the key, there are a few combinations of chords that give the game away.
Two minor chords a tone apart are one of them, these have to be II and III as nowhere else does such a combination appear. As a musician, it is very important to recognize these combinations. Start with my top 10 chord progressions.
What’s unusual about Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now’s chords is that this makes the Ab11 chord I, which means we are, yet again, dealing with a modal interchange.
When the deeper hidden meaning turns out to be shallow
Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now is the most successful single from the R&B/Disco duo McFadden & Whitehead. The two met in school, formed a band, and started touring with Otis Redding in the late 60s.
Following Otis’ death, they went into songwriting and production, writing for, among others, The O’Jays.
After having reasonable success, they wrote Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now which became known among the black community as an anthem for their past struggles.
It has later been revealed that the song was actually about the duo themselves, aiming to break away from being behind the curtain to become the main stars.
Turns out, the lyrics are about not wanting to write another hit for The O’Jays, not slavery!
This is a perfect example of how the “deeper hidden meaning” can be misinterpreted, in the case of Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now, it was a shallower hidden meaning!
Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now chords | Related pages
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McFadden & Whitehead
Growing tired of being the producers behind the curtain, watching acts like The O’Jays get all the glory, McFadden & Whitehead decided to write a song about it.
Luckily for them, their words got mistaken for being about fighting racial inequality, and Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now became part of a movement.
McFadden & Whitehead on the web
Dance, Disco & Funk
