Man On The Moon | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: C | Dadd4 Dadd9sus4 | C | C :||
Verse 1
||: C | Dadd4 Dadd9sus4 | C | C :||
Mott the Hoople and the Game of Life. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Monopoly, 21, Checkers, and Chess. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Let’s play Twister, let’s play Risk. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
| C | Dadd4 Dadd9sus4 | C | C (C/B) |
I’ll see you in Heaven if you make the list. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Bridge 1
| Am | G (Gsus4) |
Now Andy, did you hear about this one?
| Am | G (Gsus4) |
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
| Am | G C |
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? “Hey, baby”.
| D | D (Dsus4) |
Are losing touch?
Chorus 1
| G Am | C G/B | G C | D (Dsus4)|
If you believed, they put a man on the moon, man on the moon.
| G Am | C G/B | Am | Am |
If you believed, there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool.
Verse 2
||: C | Dadd4 Dadd9sus4 | C | C :||
Moses went walking with the staff of wood. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Newton got beaned by the apple good. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Mister Charles Darwin had the balls to ask. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Bridge 2
| Am | G (Gsus4) |
Now Andy, did you hear about this one?
| Am | G (Gsus4) |
And tell me, are you locked in the punch?
| Am | G C |
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? “Hey, baby”.
| D | D (Dsus4) |
Are you having fun?
Chorus 2
| G Am | C G/B | G C | D (Dsus4) |
If you believed, they put a man on the moon, man on the moon.
| G Am | C G/B | Am | Am |
If you believed, there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool.
Instrumental 1
||: Em (Em7) | D (Dsus4) :||
| Em (Em7) | D (Dsus4) | D (Dsus4) |
Verse 3 (breakdown)
||: C | Dadd4 Dadd9sus4 | C | C :||
Here’s a little agit for the never-believer. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Here’s a little ghost for the offering. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Here’s a truck stop instead of Saint Peter’s. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Mister Andy Kaufman’s gone wrestling. Yeah-yeah-yeah-yeah.
Bridge 3
| Am | G (Gsus4) |
Now Andy, did you hear about this one?
| Am | G (Gsus4) |
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
| Am | G C |
Hey Andy, are you goofing on Elvis? “Hey, baby”
| D | D (Dsus4) |
Are we losing touch?
Chorus 3
| G Am | C G/B | G C | D (Dsus4) |
If you believed, they put a man on the moon, man on the moon.
| G Am | C G/B | Am | Am |
If you believed, there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool.
Instrumental 2
||: Em (Em7) | D (Dsus4) :||
| Em (Em7) | D (Dsus4) | D (Dsus4) |
Chorus 4
||: G Am | C G/B | G C | D (Dsus4) |
||: If you believed they put a man on the moon, man on the moon.
| G Am | C G/B | Am | Am :|| x3
If you believe there’s nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool. :||
End
| Em |
Man On The Moon’s chords, progressions, and TAB
R.E.M.‘s Man On The Moon is an excellent example of how a typical guitarist comes up with a riff – by moving a shape and discovering what it sounds like!
The chords for the verse, which is the hook of the tune, is clearly a C chord, then just moved up two frets. This creates a very strange-sounding chord name for the D. For once, something that is easier done than said: Dadd9sus4.
Let’s pick this chord name apart. We have a D chord in a C shape, we also have an open G string (sus4 or add4) and an open E string (add9, not sus2 as we have a 3rd).
Technically, because it has the 3rd and the 4th, it should be an add4. Also, we only strum the top strings in the second half of the bar so now it’s an add9, and since there is no more 3rd, it’s a sus4, not an add4. Hence: Dadd4 – Dadd9sus4.
If you want to be extremely picky, that add4 comes back at the end of the bar, without the add9. So as mentioned, easier done than said! Here’s the TAB.
As you can see; you want to move that C chord up to frets and break up your strumming to make it sound good.
Before we move on, I feel the need to mention that on the record they don’t play exactly what I’ve written here above over and over, it’s more a best-of version. Aim to nail it, then don’t worry if you change it here and there.
The bridge maintains a similar style of strumming, the chords are II – I on repeat, then IV – V, just like the verse, but without the crazy extensions, like this:
| Am | G (Gsus4) | Am | G (Gsus4) |
| Am | G C | D | D (Dsus4) |
Man On The Moon’s chorus chords change twice a bar, increasing the intensity, like this:
| G Am | C G/B | G C | D (Dsus4) |
| G Am | C G/B | Am | Am |
Ensure you play an open B string for the G/B chord, and play along with the original recording to get the rhythm right.
Finally, the instrumental section. Here, the chords are just VI – V, like this:
||: Em (Em7) | D (Dsus4) :||
| Em (Em7) | D (Dsus4) | D (Dsus4) |
Should you feel that something isn’t quite right as you play along with the record then that would be because they’re tuned slightly sharp, to 444Hz. My online guitar tuner can change the Hz, use it!
Man On The Moon chords | Related pages
Five similar tunes
R.E.M.
Formed in 1980, R.E.M. spent a decade on the road honing their craft before they took over the world with the album Out Of Time.
Their best tunes include The One I Love, Shiny Happy People, Losing My Religion, Drive, Man On The Moon, and Everybody Hurts.
R.E.M on the web
