Hit The Road Jack chords by Ray Charles

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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

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

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’s chords and progression

Using one endless VI – V – IV – IIIx loop in Abm. Abm – Gb – E – Eb, ranked #9 on Spytunes top 10 chord progression list, Hit The Road Jack just 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

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Ray Charles

Ray Charles, nicknamed The Genius, sang songs he wrote himself, songs other people write 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

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You can learn how to play these Motown & Soul tunes, and in doing so, gain yourself a repertoire so you can jam with, or even join a working band.

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