Hit The Road Jack | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: G#m F# | E7 D#7 :||
Chorus 1
||: G#m F# | E7 D#7 :||
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back,
no more, no more, no more, no more.
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back no more. What you say?
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back,
no more, no more, no more, no more.
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back no more.
Verse 1
||: G#m F# | E7 D#7 :||
Oh woman, oh woman, don’t treat me so mean,
you’re the meanest old woman that I’ve ever seen.
I guess if you said so, I’ll have to pack my things and go (that’s right).
Chorus 2
||: G#m F# | E7 D#7 :||
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back,
no more, no more, no more, no more.
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back no more. What you say?
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back,
no more, no more, no more, no more.
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back no more.
Verse 2
||: G#m F# | E7 D#7 :||
Now baby, listen baby, don’t ya treat me this a way,
’cause I’ll be back on my feet some day.
(Don’t care if you do ’cause it’s understood, you ain’t got no money, you just ain’t no good)
Well, I guess if you say so. I’ll have to pack my things and go (that’s right).
Chorus 3
||: G#m F# | E7 D#7 :||
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back,
no more, no more, no more, no more.
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back no more. What you say?
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back,
no more, no more, no more, no more.
Hit the road Jack, and don’t you come back no more.
Outro
||: G#m F# | E7 D#7 :||
Well (don’t you come back no more).
Uh, what you say? (don’t you come back no more).
I didn’t understand you (don’t you come back no more).
You can’t mean that (don’t you come back no more).
Oh, now baby, please (don’t you come back no more).
What you tryin’ to do to me? (don’t you come back no more).
Oh, don’t treat me like that (don’t you come back no more).
Hit The Road Jack Chords: Learn the progressions
Using one endless VI – V – IV – IIIx loop in the key of Abm.
Moving Abm – Gb – E – Eb (ranked #9 on Spytunes top 10 chord progression list), Hit The Road Jack keeps building tension. Compare it to One More Cup Of Coffee by Bob Dylan.
I’ve written these chords above as Abm, not G#m as when playing in a soul band with horns, you tend to avoid # keys.
However, there’s a problem in there, E and Eb are both represented, and E is a chord with # notes in it.
So really, if we want to be 100% accurate, we have to write Fb, not E. But who the hell says Fb with a straight face?
So, to me, it does make more sense to say it’s G#m – F# – E – D#. Just to avoid the Fb debate!
So this is what I‘ve written above as Hit The Road Jack’s chords and lyrics, G#m.
Hit The Road Jack is a cover!
Released in 1961, Hit The Road Jack is a single by Ray Charles, although he didn’t actually write it.
Written by Percy Mayfield a year earlier, who sent it to record company boss Art Rupe who in turn knew Ray from when he was younger and had recorded with Guitar Slim.
Art Rupe is the man behind another great pianist, singer, and entertainer, Little Richard, and is responsible for hits such as Tutti Frutti and Long Tall Sally.
As a worldwide hit and #1 in the U.S., Sweden, and New Zealand, Hit The Road Jack has grown to become one of Ray Charles’s signature songs.
Famously sung by his female singers, The Raelettes, and answered by Ray, it has been on most Motown/Soul cover bands’ setlists for over seven decades.
If you study and understand the super simple chord progression, you’ll memorize this one in a few seconds.
Hit The Road Jack Chords | Related Pages
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher
- Can I Get A Witness
- I Got A Woman
- Money (That’s What I Want)
- Shake A Tail Feather
Ray Charles tunes
Ray Charles, nicknamed The Genius, sang songs he wrote himself, songs other people wrote for him as well as covers.
Best known for Mess Around, I Got A Woman, Georgia On My Mind, Hit The Road Jack, and You Don’t Know Me.
Ray Charles on the web
Motown & Soul
Motown & Soul is the best place to start if you want to get better at playing the electric guitar. The harmony is simple and there is room for improvisation.
Learn tunes by The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Dusty Springfield, Aretha Franklin, and many more.
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Hit The Road Jack 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.
