I Fought The Law | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: drums :|| x4
||: D5 | G5 A5 | D5 | D5 G5 D/F# D5 :||
Verse 1
| D5 | G5 D5 | D5 | A5 D5 |
Breakin’ rocks in the hot sun, I fought the law and the law won.
| D5 | A5 D5 |
I fought the law and the law won.
| D5 | G5 D5 | D5 | A5 D5 |
I needed money ’cause I had none, I fought the law and the law won.
| D5 | A5 D5 |
I fought the law and the law won.
Bridge 1
| G | G | D | D |
I left my baby and it feels so bad, guess my race is run.
| G | G |
She’s the best girl that I ever had,.
Chorus 1
| D5 | A5 D5 |
I fought the law and the law won.
| D5 | D5 G5 D/F# D |
I fought the law and the.
Instrumental
||: G | G | D | D :|| x3
| G | G | D5 | G5 A5 | D5 | D5 G5 D/F# D5 |
Verse 2
Robbin’ people with a six-gun, I fought the law and the law won.
I fought the law and the law won.
I lost my girl and I lost my fun, I fought the law and the law won.
I fought the law and the law won.
Bridge 2
I left my baby and it feels so bad, guess my race is run.
She’s the best girl that I ever had.
Chorus 2
I fought the law and the law won.
I fought the law and the.
Instrumental 2
||: D5 | G5 A5 | D5 | D5 G5 D/F# D5 :||
Outro
||: N.C | N.C :|| x4 drums
||: I fought the law and the law won :||
||: (D) | (G A) :|| x3 bass
||: I fought the law and the law won :||
| (D) | D5 G5 D/F# D5 | D5 |
I fought the law and the.
I Fought The Law Backing Track | Chord Analysis
Above, you’ll find backing tracks to use when learning I Fought The Law. I’ve used stem separation to extract the guitar while keeping the drums, bass, keys, horns, and vocals intact.
After studying the chords and TAB, use my backing tracks to prepare for playing this tune with a band.
Chord Progression – What’s Going On?
The chords in I Fought the Law consist of mainly the I, IV, and V in the key of D, played as power chords (5 chords). This simplicity enhances the punk vibe and gives the song its raw, driving sound.
Intro
The intro begins with just drums before the main chord riff enters, moving like this:
||: D5 (I) | G5 (IV) A5 (V) |
| D5 (I) | D5 (I) G5 (IV) D/F# (I/3) D5 (I) :||
Verse
The verse is a perfect example of call-and-response, extending beyond the blues as we pose one call and get the response twice over these chords:
| D5 (I) | G5 (IV) D5 (I) |
||: D5 (I) | A5 (V) D5 (I) :||
We also hear a partial version of the chorus here, although when the actual chorus arrives later, it appears in a slightly different form.
Bridge + Chorus
The next section is a six-bar bridge, starting on chord IV:
| G (IV) | G | D (I) | D |
| G (IV) | G |
The clever twist is that after signalling a new section by starting on IV, we abruptly return to the main hook (“I fought the law and the…”) along with the descending chord variation first introduced in the intro now as a chorus.
This is the complete chorus progression:
| D5 (I) | A5 (V) D5 (I) |
| D5 (I) | D5 (I) G5 (IV) D/F# I/3) D (I) |
Repeating and varying the hook and riff in this way (we’ve already heard hints in the verse, and the descending chords are recycled) creates familiarity with just enough variation—classic great songwriting.
Crucially, nothing new happens in this tune.
Solo 1 is simply the bridge and chorus, solo 2 is the intro, and the outro is a breakdown section—pure genius.
There’s TAB available for all this further down this guitar lesson. Here’s the chord chart you’ll need to remember the structure.
I Fought The Law Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
You can download my chord chart as a static PDF or in iReal Pro format, which allows you to change the key—though I’m not sure how well that suggestion will go down with your punk band members!
I Fought The Law | TAB
There are more than one guitar on the recording so the real challenge here is finding a part for each section that works on their own.
Intro
You have to straight away make a choice between straight forward rhythm or solo lick here. This is a good rhythm part:
Make sure you dampen the 5th string with the fretting finger for the G5. The second D5 has an A in the bass as well. I was unsure if this should be written as a chord or not as the actual bass play a D.
The triplet with its descending line could have had an E power chord but I prefer just the single E, if nothing else, it’s easier to play it this way. When the D/A comes back, I did write it as a D5/A.
Here’s the lead part, you’ll probably end up playing this instead of the chords above.
Notice how the third bar starts with a quarter note, more on this later…
Verse
The verse is played with a less powerful sound with this driving rhythm.
Bridge
The bridge is, again, played with several guitars, start by trying this:
Or, you could incorporate the melody idea which hits a 9th/2nd:
Make sure you hold and maintain that G chord as you add the melody notes. Also notice how the D is not a power chord anymore as the melody is that high F# (3rd).
Chorus
The chorus is similar to the verse but mutes beat 2 and 4:
Solo
The solo is what looks like a Dm shaped B minor pentatonic:
After playing that line 3.5 times, we go back to the intro lick – notice how the third bar now doesn’t have that quarter note.
When all TAB feels comfortable, scroll back up to the backing tracks and put it all together using the chord chart.
I Fought The Law was a cover
Originally written and released by The Crickets in 1960, I Fought The Law became a hit in 1965 when covered by The Bobby Fuller Four.
Roy Orbison’s 1972 version didn’t chart as highly, but it added nicely to his massive catalogue.
The most famous version of I Fought The Law is The Clash‘s 1979 cover. This is the version most people refer to when the song is mentioned, and if you’re ever asked to play it live, this is likely the version expected.
I Fought The Law Chords: Continue Learning
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