I Won’t Back Down | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: E5 D5 | G5 :||
Verse 1
| E5 D5 | G5 |
Well I, won’t back down.
| E5 D5 | G5 |
No I, won’t back down.
| E5 D5 | C5 |
You could stand me up at the gates of Hell.
| E5 D5 | G5 |
But I, won’t back down.
Verse 2
| E5 D5 | G5 |
No I’ll, stand my ground.
| E5 D5 | G5 |
Won’t be, turned around.
| E5 D5 | C5 |
And I’ll keep this world from dragging me down.
| E5 D5 | G5 |
Gonna, stand my ground.
| E5 D5 | G5 G C/G G |
And I, won’t back down.
Chorus 1
| C (G) | D5 (G) |
(I won’t back) Hey baby.
| C (G) | D5 (G) |
There ain’t no easy way out.
| C (G) | D5 | E5 D5 | G |
(I won’t back) Hey I, will stand my ground.
| E5 D5 | G5 |
And I Won’t back down.
Verse 3
| Em D5 | G |
Well, I know what’s right
| Em D5 | G |
I got just one life
| Em D5 | C |
In a world that keeps on pushin’ me around
| Em D5 | G |
But I’ll stand my ground
| Em D5 | G5 G C/G G |
And I won’t back down
Chorus 2
| C (G) | D5 (G) |
(I won’t back) Hey baby.
| C (G) | D5 (G) |
There ain’t no easy way out.
| C (G) | D5 | E5 D5 | G |
(I won’t back) Hey I, will stand my ground.
| Em D5 | G5 |
(I won’t back down) And I won’t back down.
Solo
| Em D5 | G | Em D5 | G |
| Em D5 | C | Em D5 | G |
| Em D5 | G C/G G |
Outro chorus
| C (G) | D5 (G) |
(I won’t back) Hey baby.
| C (G) | D5 (G) |
There ain’t no easy way out.
| C (G) | D5 | Em D5 | G C/G G |
(I won’t back) Hey I, won’t back down
| C (G) | D5 (G) |
(I won’t back) Hey baby.
| C (G) | D5 (G) |
There ain’t no easy way out.
| C (G) | D5 | Em D5 | G |
(I won’t back) Hey I, will stand my ground.
| Em D5 | G |
(I won’t back down) And I won’t back down.
| Em D5 | G |
(I won’t back down) No I won’t back down.
I Won’t Back Down chords and progressions
Another Tom Petty 4-chord masterpiece is found in I Won’t Back Down. Here we have no extensions, instead, we go the other way, to the power chord (5 chord).
Above, using chords and lyrics, I put in fewer and fewer power chords as the song progress, this helps with building dynamics. In the original recording, they add more layers of guitars, playing the full triad.
As you are going to play this live, being the only guitarist, you need to dynamically evolve during the course of the song somehow, hence the move from power chords to triads.
The verse chords are very simple. We start on chord VI, go down to V, and end on I. Making these power chords, we can still feel how they are VI – V – I because of the distance between them.
The only variation is that the third time, we go to chord IV instead of I, like this:
| Em D5 | G | Em D5 | G |
| Em D5 | C | Em D5 | G |
| Em D5 | G C/G G |
The final bar has the chord riff G C/G G, which is the signature riff of this song (although used many times before, mainly by Bo Diddley).
The chorus is much more complex, mainly down to a very quick passing chord in a G, I’ve written it like this:
||: C (G) | D5 (G) :||
| C (G) | D5 | E5 D5 | G |
| E5 D5 | G5 |
Starting on IV makes us feel as if we “take off”. The progression is IV – V, then back to the verse VI – IV – V. That quick passing chord is pure genius. Here’s TAB to describe how to strum I Won’t Back Down’s chorus chords.
This is arranged as if you are the only guitarist in the band.
I Won’t Back Down vs Stay With Me
In recent years, songs have been accused of having ripped off a previous hit. Blurred Lines was Marvin Gaye’s Got To Give It Up, Ed Sheeran’s Thinking Out Loud was Marvin’s Let’s Get It On.
Both these cases went to court, Robin Thicke lost, and Ed won.
Tom Petty has been “borrowed from” a few times. Last Nite (Strokes) is American Girl, Dani California (Red Hot Chili Peppers) is Mary Jane’s Last Dance.
For both those tunes, Petty did let it go. For Sam Smith’s Stay with me, they settled out of court at 12.5% to Tom. Personally, I think it should have been 12.5% for Sam. I also think Ed should have lost.
It may seem like it’s impossible to write something new these days as there are only so many chord progressions available and to have a hook you must hit the money notes, like the 3rd etc.
However, I know for a fact that many artists when writing songs these days do start with an existing song, then start rewriting it, Robin Thicke and Pharrell even admitted that’s how they wrote Blurred Lines.
This is not a new phenomenon, Charlie Parker did it many times, although he did admit to it, it’s even got a name, it’s called a contrafact, a new melody to an old progression and form.
Instead of debating if this is OK or not, why don’t you try it, you might get better at writing tunes by doing so. Should something great emerge, you could always be honest about it!
If Sam Smith only has to send Tom Petty 12.5% for plagiarising I Won’t Back Down, it seems worth it.
I Won’t Back Down chords | Related pages
Five similar tunes
- Free Fallin’ chords
- The Joker chords
- Learning To Fly chords
- Mary Jane’s Last Dance chords
- Stuck In The Middle With You chords
Tom Petty
Tom Petty released most of his albums with his band The Heartbreakers although some solo material appeared as well.
His best-known tunes include American Girl, Free Fallin’, Learning To Fly, Into The Great Wide Open, Don’t Come Around Here No More, and I Won’t Back Down.
Tom Petty on the web
