Love Train | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| C | D9 | F | G11 |
Chorus 1
| C | D9 |
People all over the world (everybody). Join in (join).
| F | G11 |
Start a love train, love train.
| C | D9 |
People all over the world (all the world, now). Join in (love ride).
| F | G11 |
Start a love train (love ride), love train.
Verse 1
| G | G6 G | F | F6 F |
The next stop that we make will be England.
| G | G6 G | F | F6 F |
Tell all the folks in Russia, and China, too.
| G | G6 G | Am7 | A11 Am7 |
Don’t you know that it’s time to get on board.
| Dm7 | Dm7 | G G/F | G/E G/D |
And let this train keep on riding, riding on through. Well, well.
Chorus 2
| C | D9 |
People all over the world (you don’t need no money) Join in (come on).
| F | G11 |
Start a love train, love train (don’t need no ticket, come on).
| C | D9 |
People all over the world (join in, ride this train) Join in (ride this train, y’all).
| F | G11 |
Start a love train (come on, train), love train.
Verse 2
| G | G6 G | F | F6 F |
All of you brothers over in Africa.
| G | G6 G | F | F6 F |
Tell all the folks in Egypt, and Israel, too.
| G | G6 G | Am7 | A11 Am7 |
Please don’t miss this train at the station.
| Dm7 | Dm7 | G G/F | G/E G/D |
‘Cause if you miss it, I feel sorry, sorry for you. Well.
Chorus 3
| C | D9 |
People all over the world (sisters and brothers). Join in (join, come on).
| F | G11 |
Start a love train (ride this train, y’all), love train (come on).
| C | D9 |
People all over the world (don’t need no tickets). Join in (come on, ride).
| F | G11 |
Start a love train, love train.
Middle 8
| Eb Ebmaj7 | Eb6 Eb | C C6 | Cmaj7 C |
Ride, let it ride.
| Eb Ebmaj7 | Eb6 Eb | Dm7/G | G7 |
Let it ride. Let it ride. People, ain’t no war.
Chorus 4
| C | D9 |
People all over the world (on this train). Join in (ride the train).
| F | G11 |
Start a love train, love train (ride the train, y’all).
| C | D9 |
People all over the world (come on). Join in (you can ride or stand, yeah).
| F | G11 |
Start a love train, love train (makin’ love).
| C | D9 |
People all over the world (’round the world, y’all). Join in (come on).
| F | G11 |
Start a love train, love train.
Outro
||: C | D9 | F | G11 :||
||: People all over the world. Join in. Start a love train, love train. :||
Love Train’s chords and progressions
In the key of C, Love Train’s chords have some clever changes to the chords. Let’s look at each section, starting with the intro/chorus.
| C | D9 | F | G11 |
C is chord I, D9 is a IIx chord, F is IV, G11 is chord V. Only the D’s major 3rd is outside the key of C. IV – V at the end is one of the most common chord progressions.
Next, let’s look at the verse, one of my favorite chord progressions ever, it just moves so nicely, and the 6 chords are perfect! Here’s the first bit:
||: G | G6 G | F | F6 F :||
This is moving between IV and V, with 6 extensions. We’re used to it already from the chorus. Next, we vary this by going to Am instead of F. The A11 doesn’t have a 3rd so we’re not going outside the key here. You could see it as a G/A.
| G | G6 G | Am7 | A11 Am7 |
Finally, here’s the last line, Now that II chord is actually a Dm7 (compare this to the chorus D9). The last bar is a V chord with a descending bass line.
| Dm7 | Dm7 | G G/F | G/E G/D |
Love Train is one of the best songs to finish a wedding gig with
Love Train is a single by The O’Jays. Released in 1972 on the album Back Stabbers. It reached #1 in the U.S. and sold over 1 million copies.
The song would end up being The O’Jays’ biggest hit and also considered the starting point of the Disco movement.
If you ever wanted to suggest a song for a soul band playing at a wedding, where crowd participation is needed – Love Train is the answer!
Not just covered by the working band every Saturday, The Supremes, Hall & Oates, The Rolling Stones, even Tommy Lee has covered it!
As far as songs to end a Motown/Soul night with, Love Train is as good of a choice as Proud Mary, Valerie, or Signed Sealed Delivered.
If you want to play guitar in a Soul/Motown band, you simply must know Love Train’s chords!
Love Train chords | Related pages
Intermediate Electric
The intermediate electric tunes will help you with learning the CAGED system all over the fretboard, both for chords and pentatonic scales.
Learn these Motown/Soul classics, and you’ll not just improve dramatically but also gain yourself a repertoire.
Five similar tunes
- All Night Long chords
- Build Me Up Buttercup chords
- December 1963, (Oh What A Night!) chords
- Hooked On A Feeling chords
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered (I’m Yours) chords
The O’Jays
Formed in 1958 under the name The Mascots, The O’Jays are amazingly still together, over six decades later.
Their best-known tunes include Back Stabbers, Now That We’ve Found Love, For The Love Of Money, and their signature song Love Train.
The O’Jays on the web
Motown & Soul
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.
Study these tunes in-depth and you will map out the fretboard, master the CAGED system, and learn how to design a rhythm guitar part that works in a band.
