You Never Can Tell chords

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You Never Can Tell | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

| C F6/C | C G7 |

Verse 1

| C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
It was a teenage wedding, and the old folks wished them well.
| C (C6) | C (C6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
You could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.

Verse 2

| C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
They furnished off an apartment with a two-room Roebuck sale.
| C (C6) | C (C6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
The coolerator was crammed with TV dinners and ginger ale.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
But when Pierre found work, the little money comin’ worked out well.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.

Verse 3

| C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
They had a hi-fi phono, boy, did they let it blast.
| C (C6) | C (C6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
Seven hundred little records, all rock, rhythm, and jazz.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
But when the sun went down, the rapid tempo of the music fell.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.

Verse 4

| C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
They bought a souped-up jitney, ’twas a cherry red ’53.
| C (C6) | C (C6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
They drove it down to Orleans to celebrate the anniversary.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
It was there where Pierre was married to the lovely mademoiselle.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.

Solo

| C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
| C (C6) | C (C6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
| G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
| G (G6) | G (G6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |

Verse 5

| C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
They had a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well.
| C (C6) | C (C6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
You could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
And now the young monsieur and madame have rung the chapel bell.
| G (G6) | G (G6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
“C’est la vie”, say the old folks, it goes to show you never can tell.

Outro

| C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
| C (C6) | C (C6) | G (G6) | G (G6) | to fade

You Never Can Tell’s chords and progression

Chuck Berry‘s You Never Can Tell is a 16-bar blues that uses only chords I and V. Apart from the intro, the chords are the same for all five verses and the solo.

Here’s the full chord progression, we’re in the key of C.

||: C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) | C (C6) |
| C (C6) | C (C6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
| G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) | G (G6) |
| G (G6) | G (G6) | C (C6) | C (C6) :||

Over each chord in a bar, you “honky-tonk”, meaning you play the chord, then add the 6, take it away, then add it again.

This is something Chuck Berry liked to do on most of his tunes. In my guitar courses, I go into depth about how this works when we study I Can’t Stand The Rain.