Babylon | Chords + Lyrics (capo 1)
Intro
||: Dmaj9/F# | G :||
Verse 1
||: Dmaj9/F# | G :||
Friday night I’m going nowhere, all the lights are changing green to red.
Turning over TV stations, situations running through my head.
Looking back through time, you know it’s clear that I’ve been blind, I’ve been a fool.
| Dmaj9/F# | G | Dmaj9/F# | G | Em Emadd9 | Emadd9 |
To open up my heart to all that jealousy, that bitterness, that ridicule.
Verse 2
||: Dmaj9/F# | G | Dmaj9/F# | G :||
Saturday I’m running wild and all the lights are changing, red to green.
Moving through the crowd I’m pushing chemicals all rushing in my bloodstream.
Only wish that you were here, you know I’m seeing it so clear, I’ve been afraid.
To show you how I really feel, admit to some of those bad mistakes I’ve made.
Chorus 1
| D | A | Em | F#m |
If you want it, come and get it, crying out loud.
| D | A | Em | G |
The love that I was, giving you was, never in doubt.
| D | A | Em | A |
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now.
| D | A | Em | A | A |
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now.
||: Dmaj9/F# | G :|| x4
Babylon, Babylon, Babylon.
Verse 3
||: Dmaj9/F# | G | Dmaj9/F# | G :||
Sunday all the lights of London, shining sky is fading red to blue.
I’m kicking through the Autumn leaves and wondering where it is you might be going to.
Turning back for home, you know I’m feeling so alone, I can’t believe.
Climbing on the stair, I turn around to see you smiling there, in front of me.
Chorus 2
| D | A | Em | F#m |
And if you want it, come and get it, crying out loud.
| D | A | Em | G |
The love that I was, giving you was, never in doubt.
| D | A | Em | A |
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now.
| D | A | Em | A13 |
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now.
| D | A | Em | A13 |
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now.
| D | A | Em | A | A |
Let go of your heart, let go of your head and feel it now.
||: Dmaj9/F# | G :|| x5
Babylon, Babylon, Babylon, Babylon, Babylon, why?
Outro
| Dmaj9/F# | Dmaj9/F# | D/F# | Dmaj7 |
Babylon Guitar Lesson | Course Preview
Above, you saw chords and lyrics for David Gray‘s Babylon and even though they are correct, they are so complex that they alone don’t tell the whole story of how to play the song.
With a capo on fret 1, think of the intro as a loop between Dmaj9/F# and a G chord. If we want to be extremely picky, we could call the first beat of bar 2 a G5, then a G. However, it wouldn’t help much.
To get this riff right, you need the exact TAB (you’ll find this below).
The chords for verse 1 are almost the same as the intro, only at the end do we go to an Em, which I modified into an Emadd9.
Verse 2 is just the same riff throughout.
The chorus is varied every fourth bar. This drives the progression forward and allows the vocal melody to use the ever-so-important call-and-response technique. Now the fancy Dmaj9/F# is just a good old simple D chord.
| D | A | Em | F#m |
| D | A | Em | G |
| D | A | Em | A |
| D | A | Em | A | A |
Verse 3 and the chorus that follows have the same chords as you just played. After this chorus, we keep repeating the last line.
You could describe the A chord as an A13 now, but really, it’s a line that moves from b7 to 6 so, again, it’s best described using TAB.
The outro stays on the Dmaj9/F# riff before we finish on a Dmaj7.
Babylon verse chords and TAB
The first example is a simplified version of the verse riff, without bass notes. Start by learning this and you’ll eventually be able to play the riff just like me and David do.
In example 2, we add those missing bass notes.
For example 3, more notes are added to flesh out the riff.
Babylon’s 8 guitar lessons in the course
What you saw at the end of the video above was an excerpt of step 5 from the course. There are many more examples of how to play Babylon’s verse chords. We also look at the chorus in the same step.
Next, we play the complete song. You get the complete TAB as well as a walkthrough of the entire arrangement.
Following this, we build a 2nd guitar part for Babylon so you, me, and the singer can play the song together.
In total, there are 8 step-by-step lessons for Babylon available. Here are links to each lesson in the course (members only):
- Step 1 – Chromatic exercise, hammer on
- Step 2 – Chromatic exercise, pull off
- Step 3 – Two notes per string, hammer on exercise
- Step 4 – Pull off exercise, one note per string
- Step 5 – Verse & Chorus
- Step 6 – The complete song, with TAB
- Step 7 – 2nd guitar. Verse & Chorus
- Step 8 – 2nd guitar, complete song, with TAB
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Babylon chords | Related pages
Intermediate Acoustic
Most intermediate acoustic tunes can’t be played using just basic open-position chords. We have to move up the fretboard and play CAGED barre chords as well.
We incorporate bass lines, add licks, extend chords, and play vocal melodies. Most importantly, we invent second guitar parts and play these songs together.
Five similar tunes
David Gray
David Gray is an English singer-songwriter. After many years of struggling with unsuccessful releases on different labels, he ended up recording the album White Ladder in his bedroom.
Since the release of White Ladder, David has toured the world.
David Gray on the web
Pop & Rock
Whenever a tune doesn’t fit into a specific genre, it tends to end up here, in the Pop & Rock section.
Learn tunes from Tom Petty, Eagles, Toto, Oasis, Elvis, Clapton, John Mayer, Kings Of Leon, R.E.M., Radiohead, Bruno Mars, and more.
