Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 F/G G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 F/G G7 :||
Oh!
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :||
Verse 1
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :||
I don’t know what’s gonna happen to you, baby.
But I do know that I love you.
You walk around this town with your head all up in the sky.
And I do know that I want you.
Chorus 1
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :||
||: Let’s dance, let’s shout (shout), shake your body down to the ground :|| x4
Instrumental 1
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :||
Oh!
Verse 2
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :||
You tease me with your loving to play hard to get.
Cause you do know that I want you.
You walk around this town with your head all up in the sky.
And you do know that I want you.
Chorus 2
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :||
||: Let’s dance, let’s shout (shout), shake your body down to the ground :|| x4
Instrumental 2
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :|| x4
Shake it all down.
Verse 3
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :||
You’re the spark that lit the fire inside of me.
And you do know that I love it.
I need to do just something to get closer to your soul.
And you do know that I want you.
Chorus 3
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :||
||: Let’s dance, let’s shout (shout), shake your body down to the ground :|| x4
Instrumental 3
||: G7 G6 | G7 G9 :|| x4
Ow!
Verse 4
||: G7 G6 | G7 :||
You tease me with your loving to play hard to get.
Cause you do know that I want you.
I need to do just something to get closer to your soul.
And you do know that I want you.
Chorus 4
||: G7 G6 | G7 (G9) :||
Let’s dance (dance), let’s shout (shout), shake your body down to the ground.
Let’s dance (dance), let’s shout (come on, shout), shake your body down to the ground (are you aroused?).
Let’s dance (dance), let’s shout (come on, shout), shake your body down to the ground.
Let’s dance (dance), let’s shout (and shout), shake it over.
Instrumental 4
||: G7 G6 | G7 (G9) :||
Ow! Down, down, down, down, down, yeah down.
||: G7 G6 | G7 G9 :||
Shake it over. Oh! You know I will move for you.
Chorus 5
||: G7 G6 | G7 (G9) :||
Let’s dance (dance), let’s shout (dance, shout), shake your body down to the ground.
Dance, dance shout.
Dance, dance shout.Dance, dance shout.
Shake Your Body’s chords and progressions
The problem with defining Shake Your Body Down To The Ground’s chords is that you’ll get a different answer, depending on which band member you ask.
The keys player will say it’s this:
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 F/G G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 F/G G7 :||
Or perhaps he’ll describe it using different extensions but once you’ve translated what he says, that’s what you’ll end up with, trying to play it on a guitar.
However, that’s not what guitar 1 plays. Guitar 1 play this:
||: G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 | G7omit3 G7sus4 G7 :||
When the keys play an F/G, the guitar plays a G7. So the note C is coming from the keys, the note B from the guitar, that’s a semitone apart, clashy but funky!
Should you ask guitar 2, he’ll say it’s this:
||: G7 G6 | G7 G9 :||
Although sometimes he’ll just loop the first bar and sometimes it’s not a 6 at all. So plenty to be confused about!
If you are the only guitar player in the band, you should probably move between guitar 1 and 2, maybe even combine the parts at times.
And should you have no keyboard player, you need to play what the keys do, at least for the intro!
Shake Your Body TAB
Since the chords for Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) are so complex, let’s just look at the three parts in TAB.
Learn these and you’ll probably be able to develop some kind of hybrid version after ten gigs or so.
There are more subtle variations on the original recording but these three parts will definitely get you through the gig!
Shake Your Body borrowed from other songs without getting sued
“Inspired” by Teddy Pendergrass Get Up, Get Down, Get Funky, Get Loose, and Marvin Gaye’s Got To Give it Up, Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) was The Jacksons‘ last big hit, released a year after Blame It On The Boogie.
By now they’d changed name several times, moved away from Motown, and Michael had started to seriously plan his solo career.
Released in 1979, when Disco was still happening, this floor filler is still played, 40+ years later.
From a songwriter’s point of view, this song is really interesting, listen to the tracks I referenced earlier and then also to Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, which was also “inspired” by Marvin Gaye’s Got To Give It Up.
Also, look into how The Jacksons covered Blame It In The Boogie and you’ll soon start to realize that songwriting at the highest level is more of a craft than waiting for Devine inspiration.
Shake Your Body chords | Related pages
Five similar tunes
- Brick House chords
- He’s The Greatest Dancer chords
- Higher Ground chords
- Signed, Sealed, Delivered chords
- Superstition chords
Michael Jackson
The King of Pop became world-famous before he was even a teenager as he signed to Motown with his brothers as The Jackson 5.
After many hits, Michael embarked on a crazy solo career that would see him become as big as Elvis and The Beatles.
Michael Jackson on the web
