Little Lion Man | Chords + Lyrics (capo 5)
Intro
||: Am | Am Am7 | C C6 C Csus2 | Csus2 C C6 C Csus2 :|| x4
Verse 1
| Am | Am | C | C |
Weep for yourself, my man, you’ll never be what is in your heart.
| Am | Am | C | C |
Weep, little lion man, you’re not as brave as you were at the start
| G | F C/E | C | C |
Rate yourself and rake yourself, take all the courage you have left
| G | F C/E | C | C |
And waste it on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head
Chorus 1 (hold)
||: Am F | C :||
But it was not your fault but mine.
And it was your heart on the line.
I really fucked it up this time.
| G | G |
Didn’t I, my dear? Didn’t I, my.
Instrumental 1
||: Am | Am | C | C :||
Verse 2
Tremble for yourself, my man, you know that you have seen this all before.
Tremble, little lion man, you’ll never settle any of your scores.
Your grace is wasted in your face, your boldness stands alone among the wreck.
Now learn from your mother or else spend your days biting your own neck.
Chorus 2
But it was not your fault but mine.
And it was your heart on the line.
I really fucked it up this time.
Didn’t I, my dear?
Chorus 3
But it was not your fault but mine.
And it was your heart on the line.
I really fucked it up this time.
Didn’t I, my dear? Didn’t I, my dear?
Instrumental 2
||: Am | Am | C | C :||
||: C | C | F | F :||
||: G | C | F | F :|| x6
Ha-aah, aah, aah, aah, ah.
Chorus 4
| Am N.C | C |
But it was not your fault but mine.
| Am F | C |
And it was your heart on the line.
| Am F | C |
I really fucked it up this time.
| G | G |
Didn’t I, my dear?
Chorus 5
| Am N.C | N.C |
But it was not your fault but mine.
| N.C | N.C |
And it was your heart on the line.
| N.C | N.C |
I really fucked it up this time.
| N.C | N.C | C |
Didn’t I, my dear? Didn’t I, my dear?
Little Lion Man | Chords + Lyrics (capo 1)
Intro
||: C#m | C#m C#m7 | E E6 E Esus2 | Esus2 E E6 E Esus2 :|| x4
Verse 1
| C#m | C#m | E | E |
Weep for yourself, my man, you’ll never be what is in your heart.
| C#m | C#m | E | E |
Weep, little lion man, you’re not as brave as you were at the start
| B | A E/G# | E | E |
Rate yourself and rake yourself, take all the courage you have left
| B | A E/G# | E | E |
And waste it on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head
Chorus 1
||: C#m A | E :||
But it was not your fault but mine.
And it was your heart on the line.
I really fucked it up this time.
| B5 | B5 |
Didn’t I, my dear? Didn’t I, my.
Instrumental 1
||: C#m | C#m | E | E :||
Verse 2
Tremble for yourself, my man, you know that you have seen this all before.
Tremble, little lion man, you’ll never settle any of your scores.
Your grace is wasted in your face, your boldness stands alone among the wreck.
Now learn from your mother or else spend your days biting your own neck.
Chorus 2
But it was not your fault but mine.
And it was your heart on the line.
I really fucked it up this time.
Didn’t I, my dear?
Chorus 3
But it was not your fault but mine.
And it was your heart on the line.
I really fucked it up this time.
Didn’t I, my dear? Didn’t I, my dear?
Instrumental 2
||: C#m | C#m | E | E :||
||: E | E | A | A :||
||: B5 | E | A | A :|| x6
Ha-aah, aah, aah, aah, ah.
Chorus 4
| C#m N.C | E |
But it was not your fault but mine.
| C#m A | E |
And it was your heart on the line.
| C#m A | E |
I really fucked it up this time.
| B5 | B5 |
Didn’t I, my dear?
Chorus 5
| C#m N.C | N.C |
But it was not your fault but mine.
| N.C | N.C |
And it was your heart on the line.
| N.C | N.C |
I really fucked it up this time.
| N.C | N.C | E |
Didn’t I, my dear? Didn’t I, my dear?
Little Lion Man Chords: Learn the progressions
Little Lion Man‘s chords are originally played with a capo on fret 5. Think in the key of Am to get the chords right, using mainly open-position chords.
However, since this is so high up the neck, this requires a bass player to provide the low end and a banjo to give you the characteristic rhythm this tune craves.
Working out exactly how to play Marcus’s guitar part is pointless without these members, very much like Everybody’s Talkin’, the (very) fast guitar part doesn’t work in isolation.
Should you not have these members at hand, I suggest you place a capo on fret 1 instead and think in the key of C#m, playing mainly barre chords, but utilising that low E string as you play the E chord as a C shape and C#m chord as an Am shape.
Doing this will effectively sound the same, but you gain the low, open E string.
Here’s Little Lion Man’s verse chords in Am (capo 5):
||: Am (VI) | Am | C (I) | C :||
||: G (V) | F (IV) C/E (I/3) | C | C :||
And here they are in C#m (capo 1):
||: C#m (VI) | C#m | E (I) | E :||
||: B (V) | A (IV) E/G# (I/3) | E | E :||
Try both and make sure you can see how this is essentially the same thing.
Above, I provide you with both versions using chords and lyrics which is helpful but you also need TAB. Here’s a link to that part of the lesson: Little Lion Man – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
It’s fascinating how similar the two ways of playing are (thinking in C#m and Am). Played in the key of Am (capo 5) you play a C chord, in C#m, a C shape adding the low E string.
The chorus chords for Little Lion Man start with VI, go to IV and resolve to I, then loop if before we play the V chord. Here it is thinking in the key of Am:
||: Am (VI) F (IV) | C (I) :||
| G (V) | G |
And here it is in the key of C#m.
||: C#m (VI) A (IV) | E (I) :||
| B5 (V) | B5 |
As we progress through the arrangement, the chorus has chords removed. This is a great arrangement trick, take things out, don’t add!
To me, it’s now even more clear how “thinking in C#m” is a much better idea if you lost your Banjo player, which unfortunately is what happened to Mumford after their Banjo player went rogue on Twitter.
After studying my TAB, playing along with the original recording and starting to feel comfortable with all this, a simple chord chart is all you need. Here’s one I made for you.
Little Lion Man Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
My chord chart above is in the key of Am even though I’ve just been preaching to play it in C#m. I did this on purpose as I feel you should start in Am with a capo on fret 5 and play along with the original.
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Little Lion Man Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Little Lion Man iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
You should change the key to C#m and move the capo to fret 1 as this will work much better when you play Little Lion Man’s chords.
Mumford & Sons revived a folk revolution in the U.K. in 2009!
Mumford & Sons burst onto the scene in 2009 with their debut album Sigh No More.
The album as a whole (including the single Little Lion Man), had such an impact that other bands formed in the same style, evoking a folk revival in the U.K. dubbed nu-folk.
Following the popularity of the band, other acts such as Noah And The Whale, Emmy The Great, Laura Marling, King Charles, and Johnny Flynn followed.
Harsh critics dubbed it “broadly speaking, Coldplay with a Banjo” (Evening Standard).
On the other side of the pond, this nu-folk movement had been going on for a bit longer with The Lumineers and Fleet Foxes. The Americans don’t tend to call it nu-folk, they have been given the label indie-folk instead.
If you’re into music history you of course know this genre has been around forever, but still, Mumford & Sons revived it on this little island.
Apparently, nu-folk started in a basement venue in West London called Bosun’s Locker, suitably located beneath a Pastry shop. Very Cornwall, very Pirate, very Sea Shanty.
Little Lion Man Chords | Related Pages
Little Lion Man | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Little Lion Man by Mumford & Sons using TAB and chord analysis.
| Am | Am | C | C |
Weep for yourself, my man, you’ll never be what is in your heart…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Mumford & Sons tunes
Formed in 2007, Mumford & Sons released their debut album to critical acclaim in 2009, with an equally well-received follow-up in 2012.
Their biggest tunes include Sigh No More, The Cave, Little Lion Man, and their signature song, I Will Wait.
Mumford & Sons on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Little Lion Man chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
