Footloose | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| drums | x4
| bass | x4
||: A (riff) | A7 (riff) :|| x8
||: A7 riff :|| x6
Verse 1
| A N.C | N.C D/F# | A N.C | N.C D/F# |
Been working so hard, I’m punching my card.
| A N.C | N.C D/F# | A N.C | A (C) |
Eight hours, for what? Oh, tell me what I got.
Bridge 1
| D5 | D5 | D5 | D5 | A7 | A | A7 | A (lick) |
I gotten this feeling, that time’s just holding me down.
| D5 | D5 | B7/D# | B7/D# | E | F#m11 | G6 |
I’ll hit the ceiling, or else I’ll tear up this town.
Chorus 1
| G# N.C | A5 A7 A6 | A5 A7 A6 | D5 (D6) | A5 A7 A6 |
Tonight I gotta cut loose, footloose. Kick off your Sunday shoes.
| A5 A7 A6 | A5 A7 A6 | D5 (D6) | A5 A7 A6 |
Please, Louise, pull me up off my knees.
| A5 A7 A6 | A5 A7 A6 | D5 (D6) | A5 A7 A6 |
Jack, get back, c’mon, before we crack.
| A5 A7 A6 | A5 A7 A6 | D5 G5 |
Lose your blues, everybody cut footloose.
Instrumental 1
||: A riff :|| x3
| A riff (D/F#) |
Verse 2
| A5 N.C | N.C D/F# | A5 N.C | N.C D/F# |
You’re playing so cool, obeying every rule.
| A5 N.C | N.C D/F# | A5 N.C | A5 (C) |
Dig way down in your heart, you’re burning, yearning for some.
| D5 | D5 | D5 | D5 | A7 | A (lick) |
Somebody to tell you, that life ain’t passing you by.
| D5 | D5 | B7/D# | B7/D# | E | F#m11 | G6 |
I’m trying to tell you, it will if you don’t even try.
Chorus 2
| G# N.C | A5 A7 A6 | A5 A7 A6 | D5 (D6) | A5 A7 A6 |
You can fly if you’d only cut loose, footloose. Kick off your Sunday shoes.
| A5 A7 A6 | A5 A7 A6 | D5 (D6) | A5 A7 A6 |
Ooh-wee, Marie, shake it, shake it for me.
| A5 A7 A6 | A5 A7 A6 | D5 (D6) | A5 A7 A6 |
Whoa, Milo, c’mon, c’mon let’s go.
| A5 A7 A6 | A5 A7 A6 | D5 G5 |
Lose your blues, everybody cut footloose.
Breakdown
||: N.C | N.C :||
(Oh-oh-oh-oh) cut footloose (oh-oh-oh-oh)
| N.C | N.C | N.C | N.C (G) |
Cut footloose (oh-oh-oh-oh) cut footloose (aah)
| A5 N.C | N.C (G) |
(First) we got to turn you around.
| A5 N.C | N.C (G) |
(Second) you put your feet on the ground.
| A5 N.C | N.C |
(Third) now take a hold of your soul.
||: E :|| x7
(Aah)
| A5 N.C | A5 N.C D5 |
I’m turning it loose.
Outro
||: A5 A7 A6 | A5 A7 A6 | D5 (D6) | A5 A7 A6 :|| x7
Footloose, kick off your Sunday shoes
Please, Louise, pull me up off my knees
Jack, get back, c’mon, before we crack
Lose your blues, everybody cut footloose
Footloose (footloose), footloose, kick off your Sunday shoes.
Please, Louise, pull me up off my knees.
Jack, get back, c’mon, before we crack.
| A5 A7 A6 | A5 | N.C | N.C G D/F# |
Lose your blues, everybody cut, everybody cut.
| N.C | N.C G D/F# |
Everybody cut, everybody cut.
| N.C | G N.C | N.C | A riff | A riff |
Everybody cut, everybody cut (everybody) everybody cut footloose.
Footloose Chords: Learn the progressions
Looking at the chords above, Footloose seems really simple, but it’s not. This is not a soul tune you can jam out, add some licks, and play differently every time.
You need a set part played with complete confidence which is not easy as the original recording has several guitars layered.
As the only guitarist in the band, you need to carefully work out what the most important parts are, then combine them into one part that works live.
It may only be mainly A and D chords but these need to be played as perfectly crafted chord riffs, impossible to explain without TAB.
Luckily for you, I’ve put the hours in and done this for Spytunes members who get TAB, taking them through all of Footloose chords. All you have to do is practice the parts.
When you’ve memorized the parts, ironically, it will actually be easy! This is the great contradiction of rock guitar.
Here’s a link to the complete lesson: Footloose – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Was Footloose the best musical movie of the ’80s?
Released in 1984 as a single from the film with the same name, Footloose became Kenny Loggins‘ signature song.
The film is about a town that forbid dancing as it was corrupting the youth. A star-studded cast consisting of Kevin Bacon, Lori Singer, Sarah Jessica Parker, John Lithgow, and Dianne Wiest made this one of the best music films of the ’80s.
According to movieweb.com, it’s even better than Flashdance, Blues Brothers, Little Shop of Horrors, Fame, Dirty Dancing, and Purple Rain!
Kenny would stick with the soundtrack formula as he later also wrote Danger Zone for Top Gun (1986).
A fun fact about the tune Footloose is that one of the guitarists was Buzz Feiten, a man who later would go on to patent a tuning system for the guitar.
Speaking of tuning, you’ll want to be slightly sharp when playing along with the original recording. Use my online guitar tuner set to 448Hz to get on the same frequency as Kenny and Buzz!
Footloose Chords | Related Pages
Five similar tunes with chords and lyrics
- Achy Breaky Heart chords by Billy Ray Cyrus
- Don’t Stop Believin’ chords by Journey
- I Saw Her Standing There chords by The Beatles
- Johnny B. Goode chords by Chuck Berry
- My Sharona chords by The Knack
Kenny Loggins tunes
Following a successful folk duo in the ’70s, Kenny Loggins started writing soundtracks with great success in the ’80s.
His best tunes include Danny’s Song, Your Mama Don’t Dance, This Is It, Footloose, and Danger Zone.
Kenny Loggins on the web
Country & Folk
In the primarily acoustic genres of Country & Folk, you must acquire what matters the most: A repertoire. Nothing else will give you the gig.
Learn tunes by Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, America, Don McLean, and many more.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Footloose chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
