A-Z Songbook, Ballads & First Dances, Country & Folk, Intermediate Acoustic

Vincent chords by Don McLean

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Vincent | Chords + Lyrics

Verse 1

| N.C G69 | G Gsus4 | G G6 Gsus4 | Am Asus2 |
Starry, starry night. Paint your palette blue and gray.
| Am Asus2 | C Cmaj7 | D7 | G G69 |
Look out on a summer’s day. With eyes that know the darkness in my soul.
| G Gsus4 | G G6 Gsus4 | Am Asus2 |
Shadows on the hills. Sketch the trees and the daffodils.
| Am Asus2 | C Cmaj7 | D7 | G C/G Gmaj7 | G Gadd4 |
Catch the breeze and the winter chills. In colors on the snowy linen land.

Chorus 1

| Amadd4 | D7 D7/A | G G/F# | Em Emb6 |
Now I understand. What you tried to say to me.
| Am Asus2 | D7 |5/4 Em |
And how you suffered for your sanity. How you tried to set them free.
|4/4 A7 | Am D7 | G Gmaj7 G6 | G G69 |
They would not listen, they did not know how. Perhaps they’ll listen now.

Verse 2

Chorus 2

| Amadd4 | D7 D7/A | G G/F# | Em Emb6 |
Now I understand. What you tried to say to me.
| Am Asus2 | D7 | Em |
And how you suffered for your sanity. And how you tried to set them free.
| A7 | Am D7 | G Gadd4 |
They would not listen, they did not know how. Perhaps they’ll listen now.

Middle 8

| Amadd4 | D7 D7/A | G G/F# | Em Emb6 |
For they could not love you. But still your love was true.
| Am | Cm |
And when no hope was left in sight on that starry, starry night.
| G F | E | Am Asus2 |
You took your life as lovers often do. But I could’ve told you, Vincent.
| C |3/4 D7 |4/4 G (C/G) | G G69 |
This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.

Verse 3

| G Gsus4 | G Gsus4 | Am Asus2 |
Starry, starry night. Portraits hung in empty halls.
| Am Asus2 | C | D7 | G G69 |
Frameless heads on nameless walls. With eyes that watch this world and can’t forget.
| G Gsus4 |2/4 G |4/4 Am Asus2 |
Like the strangers that you’ve met. The ragged men in ragged clothes.
| Am Asus2 | C | D7 | G C/G Gmaj7 |
A silver thorn of bloody rose. Lie crushed and broken on the virgin snow.

Chorus 3

| Am Am7 | D7 | G G/F# | Em |
Now I think I know. What you tried to say to me.
| Am Am7 | D7 | Em |
And how you suffered for your sanity. And how you tried to set them free.
| A7 | Am D7 | G Gmaj7 | G6 G69 | G |
They would not listen, they’re not listening still. Perhaps they never will.

Vincent Chords: Learn the progressions

It’s not easy to get your head around the chords and lyrics above. The lyrics start early and the tempo is up and down with plenty of ritardando and even odd time signatures.

The only other song I know that feels the same is Eva Cassidy’s version of Over The Rainbow.

I feel strongly that in the case of Vincent, we should have chords and lyrics separate. If you are singing and playing at the same time, make sure you learn the guitar independently first.

Here are the verse chords, without lyrics (it’s the extensions that are tricky, ignore them and this is just a diatonic chord progression of I – II – IV – V on repeat.):

There’s TAB for all this, here’s a link: Vincent – Guitar Lesson with TAB.

The chorus is more complex, without lyrics it goes like this:

| Amadd4 | D7 D7/A | G G/F# | Em Emb6 |
| Am Asus2 | D7 |5/4 Em |
|4/4 A7 | Am D7 | G Gmaj7 G6 | G G69 |

Again, it’s all those extensions that make it look so complicated. Using Roman Numerals, it’s just:

II – V – I – VI
II – V – VI
IIx – II – V – I

To get the extensions and picking pattern right you must have TAB, no other way will work. The chords and their extensions can serve as a reminder once you know the part, meaning you need a chord chart once you know it.

Because the chords keep changing, I had to make this a two-page chart to fit all of Vincent’s chords in, like this:

Vincent Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro

Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Vincent Chord Chart PDF, page 1. As mentioned, I couldn’t fit all this on one page so here’s page 2: Vincent Chord Chart PDF, page 2.

This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Vincent iReal Pro, page 1, and Vincent iReal Pro, page 2.

Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key although I don’t think that’s a great idea…

Vincent is one of two tunes that enabled Don McLean to retire!

When McLean was about to release his second album, his label was bought by United Artists, giving him a far wider reach than on his previous label, Liberty.

Two tunes on this album, Vincent and the title track American Pie were huge hits and together with the album sold a combined 7 million copies.

This and the enormous amount of radio play the two tunes have since received, Don McLean never had to work again. Something he happily acknowledged when quizzed about what American Pie had meant to him!

You’d think he had cracked how to write a hit with two such great tunes but since then, Don has had no more hits.

Vincent Chords | Related Pages

Vincent | Guitar Lesson + TAB

In this lesson, you get a chord analysis and complete note-for-note TAB to play Vincent on one acoustic guitar.

Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics

When you can play Vincent's chords, try these five tunes from the songbook.

Don McLean tunes

Don McLean is an American singer-songwriter most famous for his ’71 songs American Pie and Vincent.

When McLean’s indie label Media Arts was sold to United Artists, he got an unexpected chance to make his second album for a major label.

Don McLean on the web

About me | Dan Lundholm

Dan Lundholm wrote this guitar lesson about Vincent chords.

This was a guitar lesson about Vincent 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 through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.