Proud Mary | Chords + Lyrics (Tina Turner)
Intro
| D | D |
Intro talk
||: D :|| x18
You know, every now and then I think you might like to hear something from us, nice and easy.
But there’s just one thing you see, we never, ever, do nothing, nice, and easy.
We always do it nice, and rough. So we’re gonna take the beginning of this song and do it, easy.
But then we’re gonna do the finish, rough, the way we do “Proud Mary”.
(And we) rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river. Listen to the story now.
Verse 1 (slow)
| D | D | D | D |
Left a good job (down) in the city, working for my man every night and day.
| D | D | D | D (F# G G#) |
And I never lost one minute of sleeping I was worryin’ ’bout the way the thing might have been.
| A | A | Bm | G |
Big wheel keep on turnin’, oh the Proud Mary keep on burnin’.
| D | D | D | D |
And we rollin’ (rollin’), rollin’ yeah (rollin’). Rollin’ on the river (rollin’ on the river).
Verse 2 (slow)
Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis. (And I) pumped a lot of tane down in New Orleans.
But I never saw the good side of the city until I hitched a ride on the Riverboat Queen.
(You know that) big wheel keep on turning, oh the Proud Mary keep on burnin’.
And we’re rollin’ (rollin’), rollin’ yeah (rollin’). Rollin’ on the river (rollin’ on the river).
| D | D | D | D | (slow down)
Say we’re rollin’ (rollin’) rollin’ (rollin’). Rollin on the river (rollin’ on the river).
Instrumental (up-tempo)
||: D | D | D | D :||
Verse 3
| D (D6) | D D6 C G | D (D6) | D (D6) |
Oh, I left a good job in the city. Working for the man every night and day.
| D (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) (F# G G#) |
And I never lost one minute of sleepin’, worryin’ ’bout the way the thing might have been.
| A | A | Bm | G |
Big wheel keep on turnin’ (turnin’), Proud Mary keep on burnin’ (burnin’).
| D (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) |
Rollin’ (yeah), rollin’ (all right), rollin’ on the river (go ahead now).
| D (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) |
Rollin’, say we’re rollin’ (yeah), rollin’ on the river.
Tag 1
| D | D | D | C A | C A | C A G F | F D |
Move up! Du du du…
| D | D | D | D |
Oh, yeah. All right!
Verse 4 (as verse 3)
Cleaned a lot of plates in Memphis y’all. Pumped a lot of tane down in New Orleans.
But I never saw the good side of the city ’til I hitched a ride on the Riverboat Queen.
Big wheel keep on turnin’ (turnin’), Proud Mary keep on burnin’ (burnin’).
Rollin’ (roll roll), rollin’ (yeah), rollin’ on the river (go ahead, baby).
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river (hey).
Tag 2
Move up! Du du du…
Oh, yeah, yeah. All right, yeah, yeah…
Verse 5 (as verse 3)
If you come down to the river. Yeah, I bet you gonna find some people who live.
You don’t have to worry, if you got no money, the people on the river are happy to give.
Big wheel keep on turnin’ (turnin’), Proud Mary keep on burnin’ (burnin’).
Rollin’ (ah-ha), said we’re rollin’ (yeah), rollin’ on the river (all right now).
Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’ on the river.
Tag 3
Move up! Du du du…
(Rollin’) yeah, (rollin’). All right, all right, now, now.
Outro
||: D (D6) | (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) :|| to fade
(Rollin’) yeah, (rollin’) a-ha, (rollin’ on the river) give me one more time.
(Rollin’) yeah, (rollin’) wo-wee, (rollin’ on the river) da da da da da.
(Rollin’) aow, (rollin’) yeah, (rollin’ on the river) one more time now.
(Rollin’) yeah, (rollin’) woo, (rollin’ on the river).
Proud Mary Chords: Learn the progressions
Even though Creedence Clearwater Revival wrote Proud Mary, and had a hit with it, it is the Tina Turner version you’d be expected to play at gigs.
With this in mind, I designed some TAB for how to play the chords the way Tina Turner does Proud Mary.
Here’s a link to the TAB lesson: Proud Mary – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
This includes playing the good old honky-tonk, which can be done in many, many ways. The best way to learn more about it is to study how different tunes put their spin on it.
If you compare the way Chuck Berry generally Honky Tonk, with how I play I Can’t Stand The Rain, as well as Ike Turner’s pattern on Nutbush City Limits, you’ll find small variations on the concept.
Proud Mary has yet another way, including quick C and G chords, incorporated within the D – D6 pattern.
Studying the honky-tonk in this much depth will enable you to adjust it for different tunes, rather than play one tired way every time it comes around.
Once you’ve seen the TAB, you could just look at Proud Mary’s chords as a reminder, like this:
Once the verse kicks in we play the same chord progression twice, like this:
||: D (I) | D | D | D |
| D | D | D | D (F# G G#) |
| A (V) | A | Bm (VI) | G (IV) |
| D | D | D | D :||
That bass line in bar 9 is played rhythmically differently on the recording over different verses. In my experience, bands always play it the same way every time.
After two slow verses, the tempo increases as the band kicks in over four bars of a D chord.
When the verse starts now, and this is the same for all verses until the end, we add that honky tonk 6 extension to the D chord. To avoid writing too many chords, I’ve put D6 in brackets, like this:
| D (D6) | D D6 C G | D (D6) | D (D6) |
| D (D6) | (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) (F# G G#) |
| A | A | Bm | G |
| D (D6) | (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) |
| D (D6) | (D6) | D (D6) | D (D6) |
There is also a quick C – G in bar two, the bass line is still in bar 9.
Make sure you still hear how D is chord I, which makes the A V, the Bm VI, and the G chord IV. The F#, G, and G# in brackets is the bass line, you need to play the G# twice.
The tag “…move up! du du du…” is three bars of D before the fast changes happen, like this:
| D (I) | D | D |
| C (bVIIx) A (V) | C A | C A G (IV) F (bIIIx) | F D |
| D | D | D | D |
The tension in this riff is needed after being diatonic so far. The bVIIx/backdoor dominant is a standard rock ‘n’ roll chord, the bIIIx is more unusual.
Having studied my TAB (link above), use this chord chart I made for you, it may be useful at a gig should you not remember a detail, or perhaps you need to give it to someone else in the band at the last minute.
Proud Mary Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Proud Mary Chord Chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: Proud Mary iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
Proud Mary – A hit three times in a row!
First released in January 1969 by Creedence, Proud Mary reached #1 in four countries and sold over 2 million copies in the process.
This was the first big single from Creedence, effectively putting them on the map, and paving the way for a string of hits over the next three years before Fogerty moved on to a solo career in 1972.
As Proud Mary was still in the charts, Solomon Burke went into the studio to record his version with a vision that Proud Mary “wasn’t black enough”.
Burke’s version came out in April 1969, only a few months after the original. It reached #15 in the R&B charts.
Ike and Tina must have heard this version as they developed the classic slow intro, then into a fast tempo or as they say: “We always do it nice and rough”.
It’s the Tina Turner version that has become a standard for the working band to finish their shows. It’s perfect as the audience gets to calm down for the intro, then join in and participate in the Tina Turner dance moves.
As a professional guitarist, Proud Mary is as important to know as the other big female anthems, Respect, Ain’t Nobody, and I Will Survive, all tunes you are expected to know.
Proud Mary Chords | Related Pages
Proud Mary | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Proud Mary by Tina Turner using TAB and chord analysis.
| D | D | D | D |
Left a good job (down) in the city, working for my man every night and day…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
- (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher
- Don’t Stop Me Now
- Love Train
- Nutbush City Limits
- River Deep – Mountain High
Creedence Clearwater Revival
One of the best ways to create contrast in songs is to use opposite messages in the music and lyrics.
John Fogerty, the lead singer, and songwriter of Creedence Clearwater Revival is a master of this technique, perhaps the perfect example is Bad Moon Rising.
Creedence Clearwater Revival on the web
Tina Turner tunes
Tina Turner was discovered by Ike, joined his band, and even married him. Together they achieved great success with many hits.
Off stage, Ike was an abusive husband. After they divorced, Tina would embark on a remarkable solo career and Ike would end up the most hated man in America.
Tina Turner on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Proud Mary 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 by playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
