Last Request | Chords + Lyrics (Capo 3)
Intro
| D | F#m | Am | Em |
Verse 1
||: D | F#m | Am | Em :||
Slow down, lie down. Remember it’s just you and me.
Don’t sell out, bow out. Remember how this used to be.
Bridge 1
||: G Bm | Em :||
I just want you closer, is that alright?
Baby let’s get closer, tonight.
Chorus 1
||: D A/C# | Bm | Em | G A :||
Grant my last request and just let me hold you. Don’t shrug your shoulders, lay down beside me.
Sure I can accept that we’re going nowhere. But one last time let’s go there, lay down beside me, oh.
Verse 2
And I’ve found that I’m bound, to wander down that one-way road, oh.
And I realized all about your lies, but I’m no wiser than the fool that I was before.
Bridge 2
I just want you closer, is that alright?
Baby let’s get closer, tonight.
Chorus 2
Grant my last request and just let me hold you. Don’t shrug your shoulders, lay down beside me.
And sure I can accept that we’re going nowhere. But one last time let’s go there, ooh, lay down beside me.
Bridge 3
Oh, baby, baby, baby.
Tell me how can, how can this be wrong?
Chorus 3
Grant my last request and just let me hold you. Don’t shrug your shoulders, lay down beside me.
Sure I can accept that we’re going nowhere. But one last time let’s go there, lay down beside me.
Chorus 4
Grant my last request and just let me hold you. Don’t shrug your shoulders, lay down beside me.
And sure I can accept that we’re going nowhere. But one last time let’s go there, lay down beside me.
Outro (same as chorus)
| D A/C# | Bm | Em | G A |
Oh, woah-oh. Yeah, lay down beside.
| D A/C# | Bm | Em | G A | D |
But one last time let’s go there, lay down beside me.
Last Request Chords: Learn the progressions
The intro and verse chords follow an unconventional progression: I – III – Vm – II. In the key of D (with a capo on the 3rd fret), it looks like this:
| D (I) | F#m (III) | Am (Vm) | Em (II) |
The Vm chord is extremely rare in pop music—A Natural Woman is one of the few examples that uses it. Rhythmically, this section reminds me of Price Tag by Jessie J.
The bridge (or middle 8) uses a more common progression, though still not typical, with the IV – VI – II movement. In D, it’s:
| G (IV) Bm (VI) | Em (II) |
The chorus follows a traditional progression, found in hundreds of hits, and in Roman numerals, it’s: I – V/3 – VI – II – IV – V. In the key of D, this translates to:
| D (I) A/C# (V) | Bm (VI) | Em (II) | G (IV) A (V) |
I’ve designed TAB for all sections of Last Request, adjusted to work on a single acoustic guitar. You can find that in the lesson here: Last Request – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Once you go through the ideas and tweak them as needed, a simple chord chart will be really helpful at the gig. Here’s one I’ve made for you.
Last Request Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Last Request chord chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Last Request chord chart iReal Pro.
Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key which is essential in case you don’t have a capo or someone else wants a chart. Don’t forget, this was designed to be played using a capo.
Last Request – From Paolo Nutini’s Amazing Debut These Streets!
Released in 2007, These Streets was Paolo Nutini‘s debut album, which quickly established him as the next big thing on the U.K. music scene. The tunes on the album, including Last Request, were key to his rise.
I was fortunate enough to be on the tour that followed the album’s release, and I got to see firsthand how Paolo moved from playing 800-capacity venues to 2,000-capacity shows.
During this time, he also released a follow-up album, but it was the early tracks like Rewind, Jenny Don’t Be Hasty, New Shoes, and Last Request that really connected with audiences.
Several albums later, Paolo still hasn’t quite managed to recapture the same sing-along-friendly magic from his first album.
This is a fate not unique to him. The band I was with at the time, who were supporting him, faced the same challenge. Our singer had written ten or so brilliant tunes, but after the album was shelved by the label, he never produced anything like that again.
It’s clear to me that, for many young songwriters, that first collection of tunes is often the golden moment.
To put it into a more widely-known context, Guns N’ Roses wrote all their biggest hits before their debut album. The record label cleverly held back a few of those tracks for later albums, which contributed to making them one of the biggest bands in the world. This includes all the hits on Use Your Illusion I and II!
Last Request Chords: Continue Learning
Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Last Request (Paolo Nutini) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy: