Country Music Lyrics Volume 1 - Foundation - Foundationwebsite.org

FOREWORD
The songs (words and some chords) presented here are intended to facilitate learning to
play the guitar by ear (per the article, How to Play the Guitar by Ear (for Mathematicians
and Physicists), at Internet web sites http://www.foundation.bw and
http://www.foundationwebsite.org . The songs are mainly popular "country and western"
ones, with some rock and roll, folk, and gospel songs included. (Perhaps "classic" is a
better descriptor than "popular," since most of the songs are from the 1950s.) If a song
has no chords indicated, then the student should (if he knows the melody) be able to
play such a song in any of the keys that are natural for the guitar, i.e., A, C, D, E, and G
(and perhaps F). Many of these songs involve just three chords (I, IV and V). If a single
chord is indicated somewhere in a song (as an assist to the student), and the key of the
song is not specified, it is the chord assuming that the song is being played in the key of
A.
For songs that are more difficult, I have indicated suggested chords to be used, in a key
that suits my own vocal range. The student may wish to transpose these songs to a
different key. These are not necessarily the "best" chords for the song -- just the ones
that I found easy or natural to use. For songs that have no chords indicated, practice
singing the song in several keys, and select the key that suits your vocal range best. I
play a majority of the songs in this collection in the key of A, many in G, and less in E, D
and C.
For each song, the first line specifies the title. If there is an alternate title, that is
specified on the second line. Next are specified the most well-known singer(s) of the
song (in the US) and the author(s). If a single name appears, either that person is both
the principal singer and the author, or I only know one or the other.
I have assembled a fairly large number of songs into this "practice" collection, since in
order for you to be able to play a song by ear you must know the melody (none of the
songs presented here include the music for the melody), and the number of songs of the
collection for which you know the melody may be small. Most of the songs in this
collection were popular in the 1950s, when I used to listen to the radio.
If you do not recognize very many of the songs here, then you should compile your own
portfolio of lyrics of songs that you do know. Listening to the radio is not so good for
recording lyrics, since you cannot "replay" the song (unless you tape it). There are a
large number of Internet web sites that contain lyrics, for every kind of music. Many of
the songs contain chords as well. Another source of lyrics and chords (and music for the
melody) are "fake" books, available in local music stores.
When learning to play by ear, it is important to have lyrics for a fairly large number of
songs. If you concentrate on just a few songs, you will memorize the chord sequence.
Eventually, you will memorize it anyway, but in the beginning, when you are learning to
play by ear, it is best not to memorize it. It is important to develop an "ear" (a "feel," an
intuition, a sense) for which chord should be used. To do this, it is important to try
playing a song in several different keys. And it is helpful to have a large selection of
songs, so that you do not spend too much time on a single song (and memorize it too
soon). When learning to play by ear, it is a good idea to cycle through the book, rather
than selecting just a few songs. Play each song once or a few times, until you do not
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