You can learn how to play Car Wash by Rose Royce!
Easily Rose Royce biggest hit, Car Wash is a feel-good disco/funk classic from 1976. Written and produced by ex-Motown genius Norman Whitfield for a film with the same name, it was penned in order to kick start the band’s career.
Norman had actually signed the band to his own label (Whitfield Records) which he had started after leaving Motown.
The song reached #1 in the U.S and Canada before firmly establishing itself in every Disco band’s repertoire.
In 2004, Christina Aguilera released her version with the help of Missy Elliot.
Car Wash chords and lyrics
||: N.C | N.C :||
||: D7 | D7 :|| x12
| D7 | N.C |
Ooh ooh
||: (C#7) D7 | (C#7) D7 :||
You might not ever get rich,
but let me tell ya it’s better than diggin’ a ditch.
There ain’t no tellin’ who you might meet,
a movie star or maybe even an Indian chief.
||: (C#7) D7 | (C#7) D7 :||
Working at the car wash. Workin’ at the car wash, girl
Come on and sing it with me (car wash). Sing it with the feelin’ y’all.
| (C#7) D7 | D7 N.C |
(Car wash, yeah).
||: (C#7) D7 | (C#7) D7 :||
Ooh. Come, some of the work gets kinda hard,
this ain’t no place to be if you planned on bein’ a star.
Let me tell you it’s always cool,
and the boss don’t mind sometimes if you, act the fool.
||: (C#7) D7 | (C#7) D7 :||
At the car wash, whoa whoa whoa whoa.
Talkin’ about the car wash, girl.
Come on, ya’all, and sing it for me (car wash). Ooh ooh ooh
| (C#7) D7 | N.C |
(Car wash, girl).
||: D7 | D7 :||
(Work and work) well, those cars never seem to stop coming.
(Work and work) keep those rags and machines humming.
(Work and work) my fingers to the bone.
(Work) Keep on, I can’t wait ’til it’s time to go home.
| G D/F# Em7 | Em7 | G D/F# Em7 | Em7 |
(Hey get your car washed today) fill up and you don’t have to pay.
| G D/F# Em7 | Em7 | G A |
Come on and give us a play (do the wash, right away).
||: (C#7) D7 | D7 :||
(At the car wash) talkin’ ’bout the car wash.
(Car wash, girl) come on, y’all, let’s sing it with me.
(Car wash) sing it with feelin’, y’all.
| (C#7) D7 | D7 N.C |
(Car wash, girl) Whoa whoa whoa whoa.
||: (C#7) D7 | D7 :||
(Car wash) those cars never seem to stop comin’. What’d I say?
(Car wash, girl) keep those rags and machines hummin’.
(Car wash) let me tell you, it’s always cool.
(Car wash, girl) and the boss don’t mind sometimes if you act the fool.
At the car wash. Working at the car wash, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
(Car wash) talkin’ ’bout the car wash yeah. Aw!
||: N.C (D B C C#) :|| x16
||: (C#7) D7 (D B C C#) | D7 (D B C C#) :|| x8
||: Car wash. Car wash, girl :II
||: N.C (D B C C#) | N.C (D B C C#) |
| N.C (D B C C#) | N.C (D C B A) :|| x4
Car Wash chord progression
The chord progression of Car Wash is the same as listed at #6 on my top 10 chord progression, the static I. And just as described there, it is often a dom7 chord.
To keep the interest up, that static D7 is slid into from a C#7. Mix this up with Mixolydian licks and you can play this all night long.
There is one more chord progression but it only appears once. The movement starts on chord IV, a G, and then moves down using a D/F# to an Em7. Repeat this three times before you play IV – V, or G – A.
The Professional Guitarist Song Book
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Learn these songs and you can progress from being a bedroom player to working with acoustic duos, Jazz trios, Indie/Rock/Party bands as well as large Soul/Motown ensembles.
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