You Can’t Hurry Love | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| N.C | N.C | N.C | N.C | Bb N.C | N.C |
Verse 1
| Bb | Bb | Eb Bb | Bb |
I need love, love, to ease my mind.
| Dm Gm7 | Gm7 | Eb | F |
I need to find, find, someone to call mine, but mama said.
Chorus 1
| Bb | Bb | Eb Bb | Bb |
You can’t hurry love, no you just have to wait,
| Dm Gm7 | Gm Gm7 | Eb | F |
she said love don’t come easy, it’s a game of give and take.
| Bb | Bb | Eb Bb | Bb |
You can’t hurry love, no you just have to wait,
| Dm Gm | Gm | Eb | F |
you gotta trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes.
Bridge 1
| Dm | Dm | Dm | Dm |
But how many heartaches must I stand,
| Gm | Gm | Gm | Gm |
before I find a love to let me live again.
| Eb | Eb | Eb | Eb |
Right now the only thing, that keeps me hanging on,
| F | F F6 | F7 | F7 F |
when I feel my strength, yeah it’s almost gone, I remember mama said.
Chorus 2
You can’t hurry love, no you just have to wait,
she said love don’t come easy, it’s a game of give and take.
How long must I wait, how much more can I take,
before loneliness, will ’cause my heart, heart to break?
Bridge 2
| Dm | Dm | Dm | Dm |
No, I can’t bear, to live my life alone,
| Gm7 | Gm7 Gm | Gm7 Gm | Gm |
I grow impatient for a love, to call my own.
| Eb | Eb | Eb | Eb E |
But when I feel that I, I can’t go on,
| F | F F6 | F7 | F7 F |
these precious words keeps me hanging on, I remember mama said.
Chorus 3
(You can’t hurry love) no you just have to wait.
She said love don’t come easy, it’s a game of give and take.
You can’t hurry love, no you just have to wait,
she said: “Trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes” (Now wait).
Breakdown
| N.C | N.C |
Verse 2 (triple)
| Bb | Bb | Eb Bb | Bb |
No love, love don’t come easy,
| Dm Gm7 | Gm7 | Eb | F |
but I keep on waiting, anticipating for that,
| Bb | Bb | Eb Bb | Bb |
soft voice, to talk to me at night.
| Dm Gm7 | Gm7 | Eb | F |
For some tender arms to hold me tight,
| Bb | Bb | Eb Bb | Bb |
I keep waiting, I keep on waiting,
| Dm Gm | Gm | Eb | F |
but it ain’t easy, it ain’t easy, when mama said.
Chorus 4
| Bb | Bb | Eb Bb | Bb |
You can’t hurry love, no you just have to wait,
| Dm Dsus4 Gm | Gm | Eb | F |
she said: “Trust, give it time, no matter how long it takes”.
| Bb | Bb | Eb Bb | Bb |
You can’t hurry love, no you just have to wait,
| Dm Gm | Gm | Eb | F | to fade
She said love don’t come easy.
You Can’t Hurry Love Chords: Mastering the Verse, Chorus, and Bridge Progressions
The verse chords of You Can’t Hurry Love are diatonic to the key of Bb and follow traditional harmonic rules. Here are the chords with Roman numerals:
| Bb (I) | Bb | Eb (IV) Bb (I) | Bb |
| Dm (III) Gm7 (VI) | Gm7 | Eb (IV) F (V) | F |
The first verse is this short, while the second verse repeats three times, taking a while before appearing in the arrangement.
The chorus follows the same progression as the verse, repeating twice and using a different rhythm from the verse.
This leaves us with the bridge, which comes after the first chorus, and looks like this:
| Dm (III) | Dm | Dm | Dm |
| Gm (VI) | Gm | Gm | Gm |
| Eb (IV) | Eb | Eb | Eb |
| F (V) | F F6 | F7 | F7 F |
Throughout the song, we never venture outside the key. The most unusual thing about You Can’t Hurry Love is the arrangement—the order of the sections, which goes like this:
- Intro (bass and drums)
- Verse 1
- Chorus 1
- Bridge 1
- Chorus 2
- Bridge 2
- Chorus 3
- Breakdown (N.C.)
- Verse 2
- Chorus 4
Since the verse and chorus share the same chords, you could label this section as A and the bridge section as B, giving plenty of space between the three sections: intro, verse/chorus, and bridge.
Here’s a chord chart I created for you using this approach.
You Can’t Hurry Love Backing Track | Chord Chart
(PDF + iReal Pro)
At the top of this page, you’ll find a “backing track” without the guitar that you can practise with as you prepare to play You Can’t Hurry Love with a band. This backing track was recorded with a real live band in the studio.
If you’d like to download my chord chart, here’s the PDF: You Can’t Hurry Love chord chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro. You can access that file here: You Can’t Hurry Love chord chart iReal Pro.
The advantage of the way I’ve written the chord chart above is its simplicity—the verse and chorus are both labelled as the A section. If you prefer a different structure, you can adjust it using the iRealPro app.
While you’ll gain clarity by writing the same thing twice, you may lose some spacing between the sections.
More importantly, using the app allows you to change the key if your singer feels rusty, which can happen with this tune from time to time.
Below is a course preview with some TAB. In this section, we study how to play all of You Can’t Hurry Love‘s chords across the neck while maintaining the characteristic rhythm.
You Can’t Hurry Love TAB | Course Preview
When it comes to playing You Can’t Hurry Love on the guitar, the key lesson is how to maintain a consistent, repetitive rhythm as the chords change.
By playing the same rhythm for each chord, you create a meditative groove that is easy for the listener to absorb. Changing the chord shapes provides subtle variation that keeps things interesting.
Once you can play the song in an improvised way—changing the chord shapes as you go while keeping the rhythm steady—you’ll be on the right track.
To achieve this, you need to practice the chord progression for each section across different areas of the neck.
Here are the chords and TAB for the first example from the course:
Notice how the Bb and Gm chords are played early (on beat 4). In the course, we then move up the fretboard, covering all areas.
By using live band loops and TAB like this for all sections of You Can’t Hurry Love, you’ll soon be able to improvise your rhythm guitar part, just like I did in the video above.
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: You Can’t Hurry Love – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
You Can’t Hurry Love: The Supremes’ Signature Song
You Can’t Hurry Love is a 1966 single by The Supremes, and it quickly became one of the band’s biggest hits, epitomising the quintessential ‘60s Motown sound.
Written by the legendary Holland-Dozier-Holland, this song remains a true gem in the heart of Berry Gordy’s Motown empire.
Looking back, it may seem like The Supremes were an instant success at Motown, but this was not the case. Their first release came in 1960, and it took three years and nine singles before they finally hit their stride. In fact, other acts on the label referred to them as the “no-hit Supremes!”
But Diana Ross, who was Berry Gordy’s favourite, had his unwavering support, and he wasn’t about to give up on her.
It turns out, Gordy was right. Once they found their sound, the hits came fast. Over three intense years, The Supremes released a string of chart-toppers, including Where Did Our Love Go, Baby Love, and Come See About Me in 1964.
In 1965, they achieved further success with Stop! In the Name of Love, Back in My Arms Again, and I Hear A Symphony.
1966 was another exceptional year for them. They released You Can’t Hurry Love, You Keep Me Hanging On, Love Is Here and Now You’re Gone, and The Happening, all of which topped the charts at #1.
In total, The Supremes had 12 #1 hits. And as every band since the ’70s knows, You Can’t Hurry Love remains the one they all return to. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a female-fronted Motown group leave it out of their set.
You Can’t Hurry Love Chords: Continue Learning
Learn how to play You Can’t Hurry Love step by step by practising each section of the song with the band.
In addition, we’ll go through all the dominant 7 CAGED shapes. Mastering these shapes will allow you to play the song in a more improvised and dynamic way.
Start learning with the full lesson series: You Can’t Hurry Love – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Alternatively, here are five similar tunes you might enjoy: