Keep on rockin' in the free world (performed live acoustic by Neil Young) Transcribed by Soenen Martijn (martijnsoenen@hotmail.com) 20:01 19/12/2000 NOTES: this is the acoustic version of the song. Neil plays it tuning his guitar one step down (DGCFAD). I play it in standard tuning. On my guitar the song seems the best in standard tuning. This is one of the most beautiful songs I know with extremely good lyrics. In the times of a commie-hater like Nixon, America seemed the promised land and the USA was called "the free world" as a reaction against communism. But although America wasn't a dream or the promised land. In the USA, there was also poverty, there was a lot of hypocrisy, there was a lot of violence (certainly by the government backed army and police). I guess this song by Neil is a quite cynical or ironical (call it what you want) protest against the examples of the "American Dream". Or maybe the message is just: keep on rockin' in the free world! CHORDS used in this song: EADGBE EADGBE Em7 022030 Em 022000 D 000323 A x02220 C x32010 G/A x00000 G 320003 This is an example of how you can play the intro and the verse. It's hard to put this intro in tabs. You have to find it out yourself actually. When you start to play the intro with the Em chord it sounds good if you add your little finger (Em7) just before the chord change to D. INTRO: Em Em7 D C e |----0--0--0--0--0--2--2--0--0--0--0----------------------------------------| B |----0--0--0--3--3--3--3--1--1--1--1----------------------------------------| G |----0--0--0--0--0--2--2--0--0--0--0----------------------------------------| D |----2--2--2--2--2--0--0--2--2--2--2----------------------------------------| A |----2--2--2--2--2--------3--3--3--3----------------------------------------| E |--0------------------------------------------------------------------------| X 4 VERSES: Em D C e |--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------------------2--2--2-------0--0--0--0---------------------| B |--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------------------3--3--3-------1--1--1--1---------------------| G |--0--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------------------2--2--2-------0--0--0--0---------------------| D |--2--2--2--2--2--2--2--2------------------0--0--0-------2--2--2--2---------------------| A |--2--2--2--2--2--2--2--2--------------------------------3--3--3--3---------------------| E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| Colors on the street Red, white, and blue People shuffling their feet People sleeping in their shoes There's a warning sign in the road ahead There's a lot of people saying we'd be better off dead Don't feel like Satan, but I am to them So I try forget them any way I can I see a girl in the night with a baby in her hands Under an old street light near a garbage can Now she put her kid away, she's gone to get a hit She hates her life, and what she's done with it That's one more kid, that'll never go to school Never get to fall in love, never get to be cool CHORUS: G D C Em G/A e |--3--3--3----2--2--2--2--2--2--2-------0----0--|--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------| B |--0--0--0----3--3--3--3--3--3--3-------1----1--|--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------| G |--0--0--0----2--2--2--2--2--2--2-------0----0--|--0--0--0--0--0--0--0------| D |--0--0--0----0--0--0--0--0--0--0-------2----2--|--2--2--2--0--0--0--0------| A |--2--2--2------------------------------3----3--|--2--2--2--0--0--0--0------| E |--3--3--3--------------------------------------|---------------------------| X 4 Keep on rocking in the free world X 4 INTERLUDE: (played after each chorus goes something like this:) A G/A A G/A A G/A e |--0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0----0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0---0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0------------| B |--2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2----2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2---2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2------------| G |--2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2----2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2---2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2------------| D |--2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2----2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2---2-2-2-2-2--0-0-0h2------------| A |--0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0----0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0---0-0-0-0-0--0-0-0-0------------| E |---------------------------------------------------------------------------| OUTRO: (Neil ends live with hitting the chords once quite hard) e |--3~~~~~~~~------2----0---------------------------------------| B |--0~~~~~~~~------3----1---------------------------------------| G |--0~~~~~~~~------2----0---------------------------------------| D |--0~~~~~~~~------0----2---------------------------------------| A |--2~~~~~~~~-----------3---------------------------------------| E |--3~~~~~~~~---------------------------------------------------| Keep on rocking in the free world keep on rocking in the free world keep on rocking in the free world keep on rocking in the free world