Can’t Buy Me Love | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| Em | Am | Em | Am | Dm | G |
Can’t buy me love, love. Can’t buy me love.
Verse 1
| C | C | C | C |
I’ll buy you a diamond ring my friend, if it makes you feel alright.
| F | F | C | C |
I’ll get you anything my friend, if it makes you feel alright.
| G7 | F7 N.C | F7 | C |
‘Cause I don’t care too much for money, for money can’t buy me love.
Verse 2
I’ll give you all I’ve got to give, if you say you love me too.
I may not have a lot to give but what I’ve got, I’ll give to you.
I don’t care too much for money, for money can’t buy me love.
Chorus 1
| Em | Am | C | C |
Can’t buy me love, everybody tells me so.
| Em | Am | Dm7 | G |
Can’t buy me love. No, no, no, nooo.
Verse 3
Say you don’t need no diamond ring and I’ll be satisfied.
Tell me that you want the kind of things, that money just can’t buy.
| G7 | F7 N.C | F7 | C | C |
I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love. Ah-oww.
Solo
| C | C | C | C |
| F | F7 F6 | C7 | C7 |
| G7 | F7 | C | C |
Chorus 2
| Em | Am | C | C |
Can’t buy me love, everybody tells me so.
| Em | Am | Dm7 | G |
Can’t buy me love. No, no, no, nooo.
Verse 4
Say you don’t need no diamond rings and I’ll be satisfied.
Tell me that you want the kind of things, that money just can’t buy.
I don’t care too much for money, money can’t buy me love.
Chorus 3
| Em | Am | Em | Am | Dm7 | G | C | C |
Can’t buy me love, love. Can’t buy me love, oh.
Can’t Buy Me Love Chords: A Clever Twist on a Classic Blues Progression
Mixing a standard 12-bar blues in the key of C for the verse with the minor III and VI chords, followed by a II – V turnaround, Can’t Buy Me Love is a textbook example of pop and rock ’n’ roll songwriting.
The intro chorus starts with Em – Am, a progression typically associated with VI – II, the beginning of an E minor blues. However, The Beatles introduce a clever twist—what follows is Dm – G, revealing that the progression is actually III – VI, the end of a minor blues rather than the start.
The verse is a straightforward 12-bar blues but omits the usual dominant 7th chords at first:
| C | C | C | C |
| F | F | C | C |
| G7 | F7 N.C | F7 | C |
When the chorus returns, it is not identical to the intro chorus. This time, the progression moves Em – Am – C, as if the chorus has now been woven into the 12-bar blues structure—a simple yet brilliant shift.
Finally, the outro chorus returns to the original form, creating a satisfying resolution. A fitting musical parallel to the song’s message—you can’t buy love!
Here’s a chord chart I made for you.
Can’t Buy Me Love Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
I had to make several compromises when writing a chord chart for Can’t Buy Me Love. The main one is how small each bar is. Had I not done this, this relatively simple tune have had to be over two pages.
Notice how similar the intro, chorus and last chorus are. This is what we call familiarity with a twist, essential in hit writing, no copy and paste here!
Should you want to download my little chart, you can do so in both PDF and iReal Pro formats:
Can’t Buy Me Love was one of many early hits by The Beatles!
As the fourth best-selling single of the ’60s (She Loves You and I Want to Hold Your Hand were #1 and #2), Can’t Buy Me Love was an instant success, topping the charts not just in the U.K. and the U.S., but around the world.
This was The Beatles‘ sixth single, and by now, the band was a global phenomenon. Everywhere they went, fans went wild.
Taken from the album A Hard Day’s Night—which was actually the soundtrack to the film of the same name—Can’t Buy Me Love wasn’t the only classic Beatles recording. Alongside the obvious title track, it also featured the timeless And I Love Her and If I Fell.
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