Everybody Hurts | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: 6/8 D | D | G5 | G5 :||
Verse 1
||: D | D | G5 | G5 :||
When your day is long.
And the night, the night is yours alone.
When you’re sure you’ve had enough.
| D | D | G5 | G5 G5/F# |
Of this life, well hang on.
Chorus 1
| Em | Em | A | A |
Don’t let yourself go.
| Em | Em | A | A |
‘Cause everybody cries.
| Em | Em | A | A N.C |
And everybody hurts.
| D | D | G5 | G5 |
Sometimes. Sometimes everything is wrong.
| D | D | G5 | G5 |
Now it’s time to sing along.
Verse 2
||: D | D | G5 | G5 :||
When your day is night alone (hold on).
(Hold on) If you feel like letting go (hold on).
If you think you’ve had too much.
| D | D | G5 | G5 G5/F# |
Of this life, well hang on.
Chorus
||: Em | Em | A | A :||
‘Cause everybody hurts.
Take comfort in your friends.
Everybody hurts.
Middle 8
| F# | F# | Bm | Bm | F# | F# | Bm | Bm |
Don’t throw your hand, oh, no.
| F# | F# | Bm | Bm |
Don’t throw your hand.
| C | C | G | G |
If you feel like you’re alone.
| C | C C/B | Am | Am N.C |
No, no, no, you are not alone.
Verse 3
||: D | D | G5 | G5 :||
If you’re on your own.
In this life, the days and nights are long.
When you think you’ve had too much.
| D | D | G5 | G5 G5/F# |
Of this life, to hang on to.
Chorus
| Em | Em | A | A |
Well, everybody hurts.
| Em | Em | A | A |
Well, sometimes everybody cries.
| Em | Em | A | A N.C | N.C |
Everybody hurts.
Outro
||: D | D | G5 | G5 | D | D | G5 | G5 :||
Sometimes. And everybody hurts, sometimes.
So hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on.
Hold on, hold on. Hold on, hold on.
Everybody hurts.
Everybody Hurts’ chords and progressions
The chords are simple and the picking pattern is very easy to memorize for Everybody Hurts. Played in the key of D, the verse is just I – IV on repeat, like this:
||: D | D | G5 | G5 :||
The chorus is just as easy (compare it with Mad World’s chords, they are identical, just played slower) as it goes between chords II and V, like this:
||: Em | Em | A | A :||
This leaves us with the middle 8 which is where things take off as we get a modal interchange to Bm and play IIIx – VI on repeat, like this:
||: F# | F# | Bm | Bm :||
This is followed by a modulation to the key of C, playing I – V, then down to VI, like this:
| C | C | G | G |
| C | C C/B | Am | Am N.C |
Members get TAB for how to play this R.E.M. classic, here’s a link to the complete lesson (members only): Everybody Hurts chord analysis and TAB.
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Everybody Hurts is one of the best songs you won’t get a chance to play!
On R.E.M.’s 8th studio album, Automatic For The People (1992), we find the ballad Everybody Hurts.
As a single, it charted reasonably well in a few countries, but it wasn’t the band’s greatest success at the time.
Instead, Everybody Hurts has gone on to become a bit of a classic with magazines placing it high on various “best tunes ever lists”. For example, Q Magazine ranked it at #31 on their “1001 Best Songs Ever”.
If it wasn’t for the subject matter and Middle 8 section, I’d nominate Everybody Hurts for best beginner song of all time.
But perhaps if you are teaching kids to play guitar, their parents won’t appreciate them returning home playing a song about suicide!
It’s also one of the worst choices for a covers band or solo performer as this is guaranteed to dampen the mood of any party.
To me, the question I still ask myself, three decades after first learning how to play Everybody Hurts is, when am I supposed to play this live?
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