Play That Funky Music | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: E7 :|| x4
Hey, do it now.
||: E9 (Eb9 E6) | E9 (Eb9 Eb6 E6) :||
Yeah, hey.
Verse 1
||: E9 (Eb9 E6) | E9 (Eb9 Eb6 E6) :||
Hey, once I was a boogie singer, playin’ in a rock n roll band.
I never had no problems, yeah, burnin’ down the one-night stands.
And everything around me, yeah, got to start to feelin’ so low.
And I decided quickly. Yes, I did, heh. To disco down and check out the show.
Bridge 1
||: E9 | E9 :||
Yeah, they were dancin’ and singin’ and movin’ to the groovin’.
And just when it hit me, somebody turned around and shouted:
Chorus 1
||: G9 (G6 Gb6) | G9 (G6 Gb6) :||
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music right.
| G9 (G6) | Bb9 |
Play that funky music, white boy.
| E7 (min pent riff) | E7 (min pent riff) |
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music ‘til you die.
Instrumental 1
||: E9 (Eb9 E6) | E9 (Eb9 Eb6 E6) :||
He he. ‘Til you die? Yeah, yeah.
Verse 2
||: E9 (Eb9 E6) | E9 (Eb9 Eb6 E6) :||
I tried to understand this. I thought that they were out of their minds.
How could I be so foolish, how could I? To not see I was the one behind.
So still I kept on fighting. Well, losing every step of the way (what did you do?).
I said I must go back there, I got to go back. And check to see if things still the same.
Bridge 2
||: E9 | E9 :||
Yeah they were dancin’ and singin’ and movin’ to the groovin’.
And just when it hit me, somebody turned around and shouted:
Chorus 2
||: G9 (G6 Gb6) | G9 (G6 Gb6) :||
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music, right.
| G9 (G6) | Bb9 |
Play that funky music, white boy.
| E7 (min pent riff) | E7 (min pent riff) |
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music ’til you die.
Instrumental 2
||: E9 (Eb9 E6) | E9 (Eb9 Eb6 E6) :||
‘Til you die? Yeah. Oh, ’til you die. Gonna play some electrified funky music.
Solo
||: E9 (Eb9 E6) | E9 (Eb9 Eb6 E6) :|| x4
Hey, wait a minute,
Verse 3
||: E9 (Eb9 E6) | E9 (Eb9 Eb6 E6) :||
Now first it wasn’t easy, changing rock-and-rolling minds.
And things were gettin’ shaky, I thought I’d have to leave it behind.
Oh, but now it’s so much better, it’s so much better. I’m funking out in every way.
But I’ll never lose that feelin’, you know, I won’t. Of how I learned my lesson that day.
Bridge 3
||: E9 | E9 :||
When they were dancin’ and singin’ and movin’ to the groovin’.
And just when it hit me, somebody turned around and shouted:
Chorus 3
||: G9 (G6 Gb6) | G9 (G6 Gb6) :||
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music, right.
| G9 (G6) | Bb9 |
Play that funky music, white boy.
| E7 (min pent riff) | E7 (min pent riff) |
Lay down the boogie and play that funky music ’til you die.
Instrumental 3
||: E9 (Eb9 E6) | E9 (Eb9 Eb6 E6) :||
‘Til you die? Yeah. Oh, ’til you die. Come on let’s go! They shouted:
Chorus 4
||: G7 (riff) | G7 (riff) :||
Play that funky music. Play that funky music.
Play that funky music. You got to keep on play that funky music.
Play that funky music. Play that funky music.
Play that funky music, gonna take you higher now.
Chorus 5 (key change)
||: A9 (A6 Ab6) | A9 (A6 Ab6) :|| to fade
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music right, yeah.
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music, right.
Play that funky music, white boy. Play that funky music, right, yeah.
Play that funky music, oh yeah. Play that funky music, right.
Play That Funky Music Chords: Learn the progressions
The chords hint at what the riff is and describe the general feeling of Play That Funky Music. I’d like to describe the verse chords like this:
||: E9 (Eb9 E6) | E9 (Eb9 Eb6 E6) :||
The chords in brackets imply you to play and take away.
For the bridge, we just play an E9, or perhaps more appropriately, a single note-picked line. In the course, I’ll give you the TAB for both ideas.
The chorus starts the same as the verse, just up a minor 3rd, like this:
||: G9 (G6 Gb6) | G9 (G6 Gb6) :||
| G9 (G6) | Bb9 |
| E7 (min pent riff) | E7 (min pent riff) |
We then go to Bb9 before the iconic Minor Pentatonic riff.
The actual guitar parts are more intricate than I first suspected when I sat down to transcribe it. As a member, I’ll give you the TAB that will work on one guitar (the original recording has two) in a band.
Here’s a link to the full lesson: Play That Funky Music – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
Play That Funky Music was Wild Cherry’s only hit!
One-hit-wonders Wild Cherry wrote and released Play That Funky Music because they wanted to be successful. They chose to adjust to what was happening around them, rather than dig their heels in and remain what they were.
The lyrics for Play That Funky Music are simply a reflection of what Rob Parassi (lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of the band) saw happening around his rock band in 1976.
As they showed up for gigs, the crowd would ask them: Are you white boys going to play any funky music? In the end, the answer was yes!
The tune was so huge, that Rob retired on the back of it to pursue a musical life of instrumental jazz and general leisure.
Since the release, Play That Funky Music has been a standard on the party band’s set list, strangely, I’ve never come across a band that plays the key change at the end. All of them also seem to end with the riff using ritardando.
Play That Funky Music Chords | Related Pages
Five similar tunes with chords and lyrics
- Brick House chords by The Commodores
- Candy chords by Cameo
- Kiss chords by Prince
- Le Freak chords by Chic
- Superstition chords by Stevie Wonder
Wild Cherry tunes
It took Rob Parissi two versions of his band Wild Cherry before he came up with a tune that would make them world-famous.
Wild Cherry is best known for their tune Play That Funky Music which they came up with after having the audience demand dance music from their rock band.
Wild Cherry on the web
Dance, Disco & Funk
Pop & Rock
Whenever a tune doesn’t fit into a specific genre, it tends to end up here, in the Pop & Rock section.
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About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Play That Funky Music chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
