Chords + Lyrics | Cry Me A River
Intro
| Emadd9 Emmaj7 | Amadd9 Ammaj7 | C7 | B7b5 |
Verse 1
| Em Emb6 | Em6 Em7 |
Now you say you’re lonely,
| Am7 D9 C7b5 | Gmaj7 G6 F#m7 B7 |
you cry the whole night through.
| Bm7 E7b9 Eaug | C#m7b5 A13 A7 |
Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river,
| Am7 D9 | G F#m7b5 B7 |
I cried a river over you.
Verse 2
Now you say you’re sorry,
for being so untrue.
Well, you can cry me a river, cry me a river,
| Am7 D9 | Am7/G G69 F#7alt |
I cried a river over you.
Bridge
| Bm6 B69 Bm6 | C#m7b5 F#7#9 F#7b9 |
You drove me, nearly drove me, out of my head.
| Bm6 | C#m7b6 C#m7b5 F#7#9 F#7b9 |
While you never shed a tear.
| Bm Bm6 | C#m7b5 F#7#9 F#7b9 |
Remember, I remember all that you said.
| Bm69 Fm7 | F#m7 B7 B7alt |
Told me love was too plebeian. Told me you were through with me.
Verse 3
And now you say you love me,
well, just to prove you do.
Come on and cry me a river, cry me a river,
| Am7 D9 | Am7/G G69 |
I cried a river over you.
Outro
| Emadd9 Emmaj7 | Amadd9 Ammaj7 | Am7 D9 | Am7 G69 |
I cried a river over you.
| Am7 D7 | Am7 G69 |
I cried a river over you.
| Am7 D7 | Am7 G69 |
I cried a river over you.
| Am7 D9 D7 | Am7 G69 |
I cried a river over you.
Cry Me a River Backing Tracks | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning Cry Me a River. Rather than using stem separation to extract the guitar as I usually do, this backing track, with and without piano, was created using iReal Pro.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Should you play Cry Me A River on your own, backing a singer, then you simply must study Barney Kessel’s version with Julie London, available furtehr down this guitar lesson.
Chord Progressions – What’s Going On?
Cry Me a River presents a serious challenge when it comes to deciphering its chords!
In fact, the harmonic complexity is so intense that I’d recommend focusing on the TAB rather than overanalysing the theory—otherwise, it could quickly turn into a brain exercise.
I’ve transcribed and designed a full TAB arrangements tailored for one guitar with a singer, with subtle modifications to compensate for the lack of a bass player. Find this TAB further down this guitar lesson.
Having completed the TAB, the chord chart below will be enough to remind you how to play Cry Me A River.
Cry Me A River Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Cry Me A River chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Cry Me A River iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Cry Me A River | TAB (Barney Kessel)
Wouldn’t it be great if you could just have a simple chord chart and come up with a bunch of variations, just like Barney Kessel does, seemingly in his sleep?
I’m right there with you, my friend, perhaps we should just look at the TAB and learn from what he did?
What I’ve done here for you is transcribe what Barney did, but since he’s got a bass player and we don’t, I’ve modified the chords here and there to include the bass. This makes it work better on one guitar with a singer.
Here’s the intro.
I suggest you hold the guitar up high, with the neck close to your ear so you can manage that initial stretch!
Here’s verse 1,
I could write a dissertation on these chords, but it’s probably better if you spend your time just playing the TAB than reading about it. Let me just point out a few things:
- The ascending Em – Emb6 – Em6 – Em7 progression feels like a reversed Ain’t No Mountain High Enough—a brilliant movement that breaks diatonic rules by including both the b6 and 6.
- The C#m7b5 could be seen as an A9.
- Most chords are there to create minimalistic movement, like Bm7 – E7b9 – Ealt – C#m7b5.
Let’s look at verse 2, it’s played in a slightly different way.
The last bar is new, the rest is the same chords, just sometimes played in a new way, especially the first two bars.
The final chord F#alt is an F#7#9, followed by moving from #9 to b9, so I called it an alt, which means altered (b5, #5, b9, #9, or any combination).
Here’s the bridge.
Again, I’m not gonna say too much here, just play the TAB, perhaps along with the original recording, or the backing track without piano.
Verse 3 is the same as verse 1, apart from the last two bars, which are as in verse 2, but without the F#alt.
The outro is like the intro’s first two bars, followed by a loop, like this:
Transcribing this took forever, and it was much harder than finally playing the TAB, hopefully, this is some sort of comfort as you try this, knowing it could have been much harder, had you have to transcribe it first!
Barney Kessel
Nicknamed “Fruitcake” by his friends for practising up to 16 hours a day, Barney Kessel is regarded as one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time.
While he’s best known for his iconic work on Cry Me a River, Barney was also a member of the legendary session band The Wrecking Crew, playing on recordings for The Monkees and The Beach Boys.
His dedication to the instrument was relentless—spending his days in the studio and his nights in jazz clubs, only putting the guitar down when sleeping.
Eventually, his reputation allowed him to focus solely on jazz, even earning a signature model from Gibson. However, between 1961 and 1974, jazz was no longer at its peak, and the guitar didn’t sell well. Today, its rarity has made it highly valuable among collectors.
One of my favourite Barney Kessel moments comes from a Sonny & Cher recording session. Frustrated by the simplicity of The Beat Goes On, he stood up and famously quipped: “Never have so many played so little for so much.”
Cry Me A River Chords: Continue Learning
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