Take Me To The River | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| E E7 | E7 | E E6 E7 | E E7 E6 E |
| E | E7 | E7 | E7 |
| E Aadd9/E E7 | E E7 Aadd9/E | E | E7 |
I’d like to dedicate this song to little Jr Park, a cousin of mine that has gone on and we’d like to kind of carry on in his name, by saying:
Verse 1
||: E7 | E7 D5 A5 :||
I don’t know why I love you like I do.
After all these changes that you put me through.
You stole my money and my cigarettes.
| E7 | E7 D5 A5 G |
And I haven’t seen, hide nor hair of you yet.
Bridge 1
| C (Csus4) | G (Gsus4) | D5 (Dsus4) | A A6 A7 A6 | A A6 A7 A6 | 2/4 A7 |
I wanna know, won’t you tell me, am I in love to stay?
Chorus 1
| E7 E6 E7 | E7 E6 |
Take me to the river, and wash me down.
| E7 E6 E | E7 E6 | E7 E6 E | E7 |
Won’t you cleanse my soul, put my feet on the ground.
Verse 2
||: E7 | E7 D5 A5 G5 :||
I don’t know why she treated me so bad,
Look at all those things that we could have had.
Love is a notion that I can’t forget, my sweet sixteen I will never regret.
Bridge 2
I wanna know, won’t you tell me, am I in love to stay?
Instrumental
||: E7 E6 E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 :||
Middle 8
| C#m | Aadd9 | C#m | Asus2 |
Hold me, love me, please me, tease me.
| G5 | B7 | B7 B7/F# | B7 B7/F# |
Till I can’t, till I can’t, take no more.
Chorus 2
||: E7 E6 E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 :||
Take me to the river.
Verse 3 (verse 2)
I don’t know why I love you like I do.
After all the things that you put me through.
The sixteen candles burning on my wall, turning me into the biggest fool of them all.
Bridge 3
I wanna know, won’t you tell me, am I in love to stay?
Outro (as chorus)
||: E7 E6 E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 :||
I wanna know, take me to the river.
I wanna know, I want you to dip me in the water.
I wanna know, won’t you wash me in the water.
Wash me in the water, wash me in the water.
Won’t you wash me in the water, feeling good.
Take Me To The River Chords: Exploring How Chord Extensions Reflect Horn and String Lines
Let’s break down the chords for the first three sections of Take Me to the River. If you’re incorporating the string and horn lines—as I do in the solo acoustic arrangement below—it becomes quite complex.
I’ve included all the chord movements with lyrics above, but the chord chart simplifies things considerably.
If you’re playing with a band, you could pick out a few of these ideas—perhaps focusing on the intro and chorus licks I transcribed from the original recording.
The intro chords include various extensions to capture the string arrangements from the original track. You’ll need the TAB to make sense of it all, but once you’ve got that, you can read the chords like this:
| E E7 | E7 | E E6 E7 | E E7 E6 E |
| E | E7 | E7 | E7 |
| E Aadd9/E E7 | E E7 Aadd9/E | E | E7 |
Once verse 1 begins, the chord progression becomes simpler. The structure follows I – bVIIx – IV, with the I chord as a dominant 7th (E7), giving it a bluesy feel rather than a standard major scale sound. The bVIIx (D) is also known as a backdoor dominant.
Here are the Take Me to the River‘s verse chords:
||: E7 (I) | E7 D5 (bVIIx) A5 (IV) :||
This progression appears in other songs, including Back in Black (AC/DC), Parklife (Blur), and Get Back (The Beatles). Once you’re familiar with the I (E) – bVIIx (D) – IV (A) movement, you’ll start recognising it everywhere.
Members explore several ways to play this verse using play-along loops and TAB.
The bridge section briefly steps outside the key, using b and x chords. In Roman numerals, the movement spells bVIx (C) – bIIIx (G) before resolving back to bVIIx (D) – IV (A).
| C Csus4 C Csus2 | G Gsus4 G | D5 (Dsus4) |
| A A6 A7 A6 | A A6 A7 A6 | 2/4 A7 |
This could also be described as a modal interchange from E major (I) to E minor (VI), making C the IV chord and G the I. This movement follows a cycle of fifths, similar to Wonderwall by Oasis.
The chorus follows a structure similar to the verse but omits D and A, instead varying E7 with an E6. The first chorus moves like this:
| E7 E6 E7 | E7 E6 |
| E7 E6 E | E7 E6 | E7 E6 E | E7 |
Later choruses extend to eight bars rather than six, like this:
||: E7 E6 E7 | E7 | E7 | E7 :||
The stunning middle 8 section finally embraces the key of E Ionian (rather than E blues), moving through this progression:
| C#m (VI) | Aadd9 (IV) | C#m | Asus2 |
| G5 (bIIIx) | B7 (V) | B7 B7/F# | B7 B7/F# |
Fitting all this into a single-page chord chart while keeping it clear and readable was a challenge. Here’s the version I settled on after much consideration.
Take Me To The River Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
This chord chart has been simplified in several ways. The intro doesn’t include the string and horn lines as chord extensions, and I’ve also used this section to outline the instrumental and outro—it’s essentially an E7 with occasional E6.
What this means is that you’ll need to dive deep and memorise it. I’ve indicated the number of bars each time—12, then 8, and finally fading out.
The verse has also been streamlined. Instead of detailing the variations heard in verse 1, I’ve written it as we actually play it in the later verses. The bridge remains consistent throughout.
For the chorus, I’ve simplified it by indicating the bar count—six bars the first time, then twelve bars the next—marked clearly in the chart.
My favourite section of all time, Take Me to the River‘s middle 8, has been left intact.
At the bottom of the chart, I’ve listed the order of the sections.
If you’d like to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Take Me to the River chord chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro—here’s a link to that file: Take Me to the River chord chart iReal Pro. With the iRealPro app, you can adjust the key and tweak the arrangement as needed.
Below, you’ll find the opposite of this simplified approach—an excerpt from how we’ll learn the song in the course.
Take Me To The River TAB | Course Preview
My one-guitar acoustic arrangement of Take Me to the River is highly intricate—I spent many days transcribing bass, strings, and horn parts to bring it to life.
It was well worth the effort, and I’d encourage you to do the same with your favourite songs. Instead of just learning the guitar part, explore what the other instruments are doing!
Here’s the TAB for how a verse could be played. In this example, I’m primarily combining chords with the bass line.
Members get extensive TAB and play-along loops for all sections, along with in-depth video lessons walking you through the entire arrangement.
There’s so much to learn from this Al Green classic—it’s truly mind-blowing.
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: Take Me to the River – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
How Take Me to the River Became a Classic: Al Green, Talking Heads, and the Covers That Followed
Al Green’s Take Me to the River wasn’t a hit when it was first released in 1974 on Al Green Explores Your Mind. Its legendary status developed over the years, helped by a famous cover—more on that later.
The original recording featured the Memphis Horns, regular Stax collaborators and close associates of Booker T. & the M.G.’s. Also present were the Memphis Strings, which, combined with the band’s restrained, almost “humming” approach, created a signature “late-night sound” described as Southern Soul.
Released on Hi Records, the song was part of an effort to compete with Chess, Motown, and Stax—labels that had successfully brought Black music to white radio for over a decade. The common strategy was to soften the rawness of blues or gospel by adding strings, horns, and backing vocals, as heard in Al Green’s work.
Since its release, Take Me to the River has become a standard, covered by countless working bands and major artists alike.
Most famously, Talking Heads released a version in 1978. Their take on the song reached #26 on the U.S. charts, marking one of their early commercial successes.
David Byrne later reflected:
“Coincidence or conspiracy? There were at least four cover versions of this song out at the same time—Foghat, Bryan Ferry, Levon Helm (The Band), and us. More money for Mr. Green’s Full Gospel Tabernacle Church, I suppose.”
Take Me To The River Chords: Continue Learning
Take Me to the River can be complex to grasp, as we’re trying to replicate an entire soul band on just one acoustic guitar.
To make this easier, we break it down into smaller chunks and practice each part as an individual loop.
Start learning with the full lesson series: Take Me To The River – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy: