Chords + Lyrics | Nowhere To Run
Intro
| N.C | G | G | (bass + drums)
Chorus 1
||: G | F Em C/E | G | F Em C/E :||
Nowhere to run to, baby. Nowhere to hide.
I got nowhere to run to, baby. Nowhere to hide.
Verse 1
||: G | F Em C/E | G | F Em C/E :||
It’s not love I’m runnin’ from, just the heartbreak I know will come.
Cause I know you’re no good for me (you’re no good), but you’ve become a part of me.
Breakdown 1
||: N.C | N.C :||
Everywhere I go, your face I see.
Every step I take, you take with me, yeah.
Chorus 2
Nowhere to run to, baby. Nowhere to hide.
Got nowhere to run to, baby. Nowhere to hide.
Bridge 1
| A7 | A7 |
I know you’re no good for me,
| D7 | D7 |
but free of you, I’ll never be, no.
Verse 2
Each night as I sleep, into my heart you creep.
I wake up feeling sorry I met you, hoping soon, that I’ll forget you.
Breakdown 2
When I look in the mirror, to comb my hair.
I see your face just-a-smilin’ there.
Chorus 3
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, from you, baby.
I got nowhere to run to, baby. Nowhere to hide.
Bridge 2
I know you’re no good for me.
But you’ve become a part of me.
Verse 3
How can I fight a love, that shouldn’t be?
When it’s so deep, so deep, deep inside of me.
Breakdown 3
My love reaches so high, I can’t get over it.
It’s so wide, I can’t get around it, no.
Chorus 4
Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, from you babe.
Just can’t get away from you baby, no matter how I try.
Bridge 3
I know you’re no good for me.
But free of you, I’ll never be.
Chorus 5
Nowhere to run to, baby. Nowhere to hide (Nowhere to hide).
Got nowhere to run to, baby. Nowhere to hide (Nowhere to hide).
Got nowhere to run. Got nowhere to hide (Nowhere to hide). (fade)
Nowhere To Run Chords: Decoding the Bluesy Progression
This is an important chord progression to understand. We’re in the key of G, but most traditional rules are broken, which is what gives this progression its distinctive sound.
First, the I chord doesn’t feel settled because Nowhere To Run has a bluesy character. If we were strictly following the major scale, the G chord would be a maj7, but here it leans towards a dom7 feel — even though we never actually play a G7.
The reason it feels like a dom7 comes from the next chord: F. This acts as a bVIIx, the quintessential rock ’n’ roll chord, famously used by bands like AC/DC. After the F, we move to C, the IV chord, which is one of the few chords in the key of G that hasn’t been altered. Here’s the verse and chorus progression:
||: G (I) | F (bVIIx) C (IV) :||
The sharp-eyed theory student may look at this and say: “That looks like a progression from the key of C!” And they would be right — but also wrong, because the song unquestionably feels like the key of G.
Sometimes the placement of chords within the bar is more important than the chords themselves. Nowhere To Run is the perfect example of why you must always put music first and theory second.
Dig a little deeper, and we find that before the C chord we pass through Em, and the C also has an E in the bass. The actual progression is therefore:
||: G | F Em C/E :||
This is true if we follow the piano and horn parts. If we’re only playing chord stabs on beats 2 and 4, we as guitarists could simply think of it as G – F – C.
To fully understand this, you need TAB — here’s the link: Nowhere To Run – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Bridge
The bridge introduces A7 and D7. A7 functions as the IIx chord, and D7 is the V chord with its natural b7 extension.
Over these blues and rock ’n’ roll-inspired chords, the melody blends both the G minor and major pentatonic scales, using classic blues language and further proving that Nowhere To Run sits firmly in the key of G, not C.
Here’s a chord chart to guide your playing.
Nowhere To Run Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro Download
Download my chart as a static PDF or in the flexible iReal Pro format where you can change the key and layout of the arrangement.
When you play along with the recording, you’ll notice how you will be sharp. You can fix this by tuning down a bit (set my online tuner to 435Hz), or use Serato or similar to pitch the recording down.
Nowhere To Run TAB | Course Preview
In the course we use TAB when looking at the guitar part for all sections, even move the parts around the fretboard to create some movement and avoid boredom on the gig.
We also look at how to play the piano and horn riffs, as a preview, here’s the chorus horn riff.
Behind the Hits: How Motown’s Work Ethic Created Gems Like Nowhere To Run
1965 was one of the greatest years for songwriting, and with Motown in full swing, you might think that Berry Gordy found a winning formula and that everything he touched became a hit. But that’s not entirely true! In 1965, he released 119 singles, and not all of them were hits!
The ones that were include I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch), Stop! In The Name of Love, Dancing In The Street, and How Sweet It Is.
If you compare Nowhere To Run with Dancing In The Street, you’ll notice striking similarities. This is no coincidence—both songs were written by Holland-Dozier-Holland, sung by Martha and the Vandellas, and backed by The Funk Brothers.
Looking back at the Motown empire, it’s clear that in order to create some of the most memorable tunes the world ever heard, they had to produce a lot of material that no one today remembers. Consider what this means for your own musical journey: my top tip is—get to work, or nothing will happen!
Nowhere To Run Chords: Continue Learning
Want to master this song? Check out the full TAB lesson here: Nowhere To Run (Martha and the Vandellas) Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy:
