Baby Can I Hold You | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: D (Dsus2) | A7sus4 A7sus2 A7 :||
Verse 1
| D (Dsus2) | A7sus4 A7sus2 A7 | Em |
Sorry, is all that you can say.
| A7sus4 A7sus2 A7 | D (Dsus2) |
Years gone by and still.
| A7sus4 A7sus2 A7 | Em |
Words don’t come easily.
|2/4 G | 4/4 A | Asus4 A |
Like sorry, like sorry.
Verse 2
Forgive me, is all that you can’t say.
Years gone by and still.
Words don’t come easily.
Like forgive me, forgive me.
Chorus 1
| D (Dsus2) | Em /F# G | D (Dsus2) |
But you can say baby. Baby, can I hold you tonight?
| Em /F# G | Bm (Bm7) |
Maybe if I told you the right words.
| A | D (Dsus2) | Em /F# G |
Ooh, at the right time you’d be mine.
Verse 3
I love you, is all that you can’t say.
Years gone by and still.
Words don’t come easily.
Like I love you, I love you.
Chorus 2
But you can say baby. Baby, can I hold you tonight?
Maybe if I told you the right words.
| A |
Ooh, at the right time you’d be mine.
Chorus 3
Baby, can I hold you tonight?
Maybe if I told you the right words.
Ooh, at the right time you’d be mine.
| D (Dsus2) | Em /F#) G | D |
You’d be mine. You’d be mine.
Baby Can I Hold You Chords: Learn the progressions
Taking the step from strumming like a beginner to playing more musical guitar parts is all about finding the right feel. One of the best teachers for this, perhaps unexpectedly, is Tracy Chapman. Her songs Talking About a Revolution, Fast Car, and Baby Can I Hold You are perfect examples to learn from.
If you’ve been searching online for Baby Can I Hold You chords and compared various sources, you’ll notice that I’ve included more extensions in my version.
These extensions are intentional, as I aim to fully capture the nuances of Tracy’s guitar part. Using TAB will make things clearer—here’s a link to that part of the lesson: Baby Can I Hold You – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
In the section above, with the chords and lyrics, you’ll see this:
||: D (Dsus2) | A7sus4 A7sus2 A7 :||
The Dsus2 appears briefly and then disappears, which is why it’s placed in brackets. D is chord I, A is V.
The verse then incorporates Em (chord II) as follows:
| D (Dsus2) | A7sus4 A7sus2 A7 | Em |
| A7sus4 A9 A7 | D (Dsus2) |
| A7sus4 A9 A7 | Em |
|2/4 G | 4/4 A | Asus4 A |
Using Roman numerals, this progression is I – V – II – V. The sequence repeats, but then moves to IV at the end, creating tension by stopping at V. There’s also TAB for this, which includes the lick in verse 3 that transitions from Em to Em7.
The chorus starts in a similar, though slightly altered, way. It sounds more musical if you play a single bass note instead of a full chord. Here’s how the movement goes:
| D (Dsus2) | Em (/F#) G | D (Dsus2) |
| Em (/F#) G | Bm (Bm7) |
| A | D (Dsus2) | Em (/F#) G |
In Roman numerals, this progression is I – II – IV, repeat it, and then go to VI (Bm), which adds a twist that grabs the listener’s attention.
I’ve incorporated the /F# bass note to smoothly transition from Em to G. The Bm can briefly move to Bm7 if you’d like to add the lick from the original recording. Again, this is better explained using TAB.
Once you’ve practised with the TAB, a simple chord chart will suffice. Here’s one I’ve made for you.

Baby Can I Hold You Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
The only thing to watch out for here is that the verse only repeats the first time. I’ve found the best way to describe this in a chord chart is simply to write it in text.
Another difference between the chords and lyrics, the TAB notation, and this chord chart is that the A7sus4 and A7sus2 in the chart have been written as A7sus24. I did this to save space.
If you’d like to download this chord chart, here’s a PDF: Baby Can I Hold You Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro. Here’s a link to that file: Baby Can I Hold You iReal Pro. Using this and the iReal Pro app, you can easily change the key.
Baby Can I Hold You was a hit—thrice!
This was the third single from Tracy Chapman’s legendary self-titled debut album.
I don’t know about you, but to me, this song has hit single written all over it. Even the intro hi-hat is a classic radio trick, almost like a fanfare, signalling what’s to come.
The perfectly crafted acoustic strums are so well-defined that they elevate us from beginner guitar to something much more musical.
In the charts, Baby Can I Hold You reached #1 in Brazil and Portugal, clearly showing that Tracy wasn’t just big in her native U.S., but a global phenomenon.
In the U.K., it only reached #94, but as a slow burner, it sold almost half a million copies over the next two decades.
Perhaps this success was helped by Boyzone’s version in 1997, which reached #2 in the U.K., Scottish, and Irish charts and sold 600,000 copies in the U.K. alone.
Ronan Keating, formerly of Boyzone, must have thought, “I can do that again,” as he released the song as a solo artist in 2005, as part of his Greatest Hits album.
This time, it didn’t climb as high, but it still reached #42 in Germany.
Baby Can I Hold You Chords | Related Pages
Baby Can I Hold You | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Baby Can I Hold You by Tracy Chapman using TAB and chord analysis.
| D (Dsus2) | A7sus4 A7sus2 A7 | Em |
Sorry, is all that you can say…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Tracy Chapman tunes
Tracy Chapman is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her sensational singles Fast Car, Talking About A Revolution, and Baby Can I Hold You from her self-titled debut album.
Amazingly, these three songs were on the debut’s A-side.
Tracy Chapman on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Baby Can I Hold You‘s chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not by practising scales or studying theory in isolation.