Chords for Townes Van Zandt-If I Needed You from Austin Pickers 1984
Tempo:
75.75 bpm
Chords used:
G
C
Bb
F
D
Tuning:Standard Tuning (EADGBE)Capo:+0fret
Start Jamming...
Is there a story behind If I Needed You?
Yeah, there is as a matter of fact.
[Bb] Kind [Eb] of a unique [Bb] little story about a [N] song being written.
I was living with Guy Clark, good friend of mine, and his wife Susanna in Nashville.
And I'd come through Nashville [Gm] to make a record.
And [D] I was living in their spare [G] room in this little bitty house.
[N] And we all got some kind of a Asiatic, [G] wasn't the real [Gb] Asiatic for everybody, but it seemed like it.
[N] And we were all real sick and we would have to flip coins in the morning to see who would walk up to the [Gm] drugstore.
We were all [Ab] real broke, [N] and we're still all broke.
We were real broke, man.
And we would all have to walk up to flip coins [Gm] to see who would [Bb] walk up there
and get a bottle of cough syrup that Dr.
Rippey, [Eb] good name for Dr.
[Bb] Rippey, [Ab] would have prescribed for us.
And I lost almost every time.
[G] I had to walk up there about six times in [Bb] three days.
[G] And due to this cough syrup and the fever and generally having the flu,
the food that we'd see, we were all having real strange [D] dreams.
[N] And I had a dream one night that I was a folk singer and I was writing a song.
And the song was If I Needed You.
And it was one of those dreams that [Bb] was strong enough to where [N]
right when it ended I woke up.
And I remembered it and I had [Ab] some paper and a pen right by the side of the mattress which was on the [Bb] floor.
I used to [G] sleep on the floor.
I'd been off the floor for four or five years.
I get nervous about it.
[Bm] Mm-hmm.
Anyway, I had this [N] piece of paper and pencil and wrote down If I [D] Needed You just like exactly [Bb] real fast.
I knew every guitar note and then went back to sleep.
Totally from a dream?
Totally.
I mean, I woke up just long [Bm] enough to, where's that paper?
[N] You write it down.
There's like three verses [D] and then you repeat the first verse.
Uh-huh.
But the main thing was the guitar part, every note.
That must have been a vivid dream.
[Ab] It's easy to [Bb] think in a dream but it's hard to [Ab] play and [Eb] get some
Some things are hard to do in a [D] dream.
If you [Bb] shoot a gun at somebody in [Bb] some kind of [Ab] nightmare, usually the gun doesn't go [D] off.
Or if it does go off, it [Gm] doesn't
Make a sound.
[D] It doesn't hit the person or make a sound or hit the person or make any difference.
[Db] And if [D] you're, say, going to have a drink in a dream, you can always [Bb] get the drink to this close.
[Dm] And all of a sudden it's [N] water or it's
I mean, there's certain things that don't come through in a dream.
[Bm] Right?
And [Gm] playing guitar is [D] one of them.
And I woke up the next morning [Bm] and we all met in the guy's kitchen every morning for coffee.
And it was real funny, a real
You [D] know, a little kitchen table and a [G] little room.
A kitchen nook, right?
With [Bb] about four or five guitars, a banjo, [N] leaning around it.
First I'd talk, you know, all the guitars would ring.
I think they call it sympathetic harmonization.
And the guy would talk and all the [Ab] guitars would ring.
Suzanne [G] would talk and all the guitars would ring.
And I said, look, y'all, [Bb] [C] I got you a piece of paper.
Let me play this.
And played it straight through the very first time and it's never been changed.
I played it exactly correct.
From the dream?
[F] First [C] time.
[G] Is that how you [C] create a lot of songs or was just that one time?
The first one.
[F] [G] [C]
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come to [F] me and [G] ease [C] my pain?
If you needed me, I would come to you.
I'd swim the [F] seas for [G] to [C] ease your pain.
In the night forlorn are the mornings born.
And the morning [F] shines [G] with the [C] lights of love.
You will miss sunrise if you close your eyes.
That would [F] break my [G] heart.
[C]
[F] [G] [C]
[F] [G] [C]
Lady's with me now since I showed her how to put [F] her lily [G] hand in [C] mine.
Ruben will agree she's a sight to see and a treasure [F] for [G] the poor [C] to find.
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come [F] to me [G] and ease my [C] pain?
If you needed me, I would come to you.
I'd swim [F] the seas [G] for to [C] ease your pain.
[F] [G] [C] [N]
Yeah, there is as a matter of fact.
[Bb] Kind [Eb] of a unique [Bb] little story about a [N] song being written.
I was living with Guy Clark, good friend of mine, and his wife Susanna in Nashville.
And I'd come through Nashville [Gm] to make a record.
And [D] I was living in their spare [G] room in this little bitty house.
[N] And we all got some kind of a Asiatic, [G] wasn't the real [Gb] Asiatic for everybody, but it seemed like it.
[N] And we were all real sick and we would have to flip coins in the morning to see who would walk up to the [Gm] drugstore.
We were all [Ab] real broke, [N] and we're still all broke.
We were real broke, man.
And we would all have to walk up to flip coins [Gm] to see who would [Bb] walk up there
and get a bottle of cough syrup that Dr.
Rippey, [Eb] good name for Dr.
[Bb] Rippey, [Ab] would have prescribed for us.
And I lost almost every time.
[G] I had to walk up there about six times in [Bb] three days.
[G] And due to this cough syrup and the fever and generally having the flu,
the food that we'd see, we were all having real strange [D] dreams.
[N] And I had a dream one night that I was a folk singer and I was writing a song.
And the song was If I Needed You.
And it was one of those dreams that [Bb] was strong enough to where [N]
right when it ended I woke up.
And I remembered it and I had [Ab] some paper and a pen right by the side of the mattress which was on the [Bb] floor.
I used to [G] sleep on the floor.
I'd been off the floor for four or five years.
I get nervous about it.
[Bm] Mm-hmm.
Anyway, I had this [N] piece of paper and pencil and wrote down If I [D] Needed You just like exactly [Bb] real fast.
I knew every guitar note and then went back to sleep.
Totally from a dream?
Totally.
I mean, I woke up just long [Bm] enough to, where's that paper?
[N] You write it down.
There's like three verses [D] and then you repeat the first verse.
Uh-huh.
But the main thing was the guitar part, every note.
That must have been a vivid dream.
[Ab] It's easy to [Bb] think in a dream but it's hard to [Ab] play and [Eb] get some
Some things are hard to do in a [D] dream.
If you [Bb] shoot a gun at somebody in [Bb] some kind of [Ab] nightmare, usually the gun doesn't go [D] off.
Or if it does go off, it [Gm] doesn't
Make a sound.
[D] It doesn't hit the person or make a sound or hit the person or make any difference.
[Db] And if [D] you're, say, going to have a drink in a dream, you can always [Bb] get the drink to this close.
[Dm] And all of a sudden it's [N] water or it's
I mean, there's certain things that don't come through in a dream.
[Bm] Right?
And [Gm] playing guitar is [D] one of them.
And I woke up the next morning [Bm] and we all met in the guy's kitchen every morning for coffee.
And it was real funny, a real
You [D] know, a little kitchen table and a [G] little room.
A kitchen nook, right?
With [Bb] about four or five guitars, a banjo, [N] leaning around it.
First I'd talk, you know, all the guitars would ring.
I think they call it sympathetic harmonization.
And the guy would talk and all the [Ab] guitars would ring.
Suzanne [G] would talk and all the guitars would ring.
And I said, look, y'all, [Bb] [C] I got you a piece of paper.
Let me play this.
And played it straight through the very first time and it's never been changed.
I played it exactly correct.
From the dream?
[F] First [C] time.
[G] Is that how you [C] create a lot of songs or was just that one time?
The first one.
[F] [G] [C]
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come to [F] me and [G] ease [C] my pain?
If you needed me, I would come to you.
I'd swim the [F] seas for [G] to [C] ease your pain.
In the night forlorn are the mornings born.
And the morning [F] shines [G] with the [C] lights of love.
You will miss sunrise if you close your eyes.
That would [F] break my [G] heart.
[C]
[F] [G] [C]
[F] [G] [C]
Lady's with me now since I showed her how to put [F] her lily [G] hand in [C] mine.
Ruben will agree she's a sight to see and a treasure [F] for [G] the poor [C] to find.
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come [F] to me [G] and ease my [C] pain?
If you needed me, I would come to you.
I'd swim [F] the seas [G] for to [C] ease your pain.
[F] [G] [C] [N]
Key:
G
C
Bb
F
D
G
C
Bb
Is there a story behind If I Needed You?
Yeah, there is as a matter of fact.
[Bb] _ Kind [Eb] of a unique [Bb] little story about a [N] song being written. _
I was living with Guy Clark, good friend of mine, and his wife Susanna in Nashville.
And I'd come through Nashville [Gm] to make a record.
And [D] I was living in their spare [G] room in this little bitty house.
[N] And we all got some kind of a _ Asiatic, [G] wasn't the real [Gb] Asiatic for everybody, but it seemed like it.
[N] And we were all real sick and we would have to flip coins in the morning to see who would walk up to the [Gm] drugstore.
We were all [Ab] real broke, [N] and we're still all broke.
We were real broke, man.
And we would all have to walk up to flip coins [Gm] to see who would [Bb] walk up there
and get a bottle of cough syrup that Dr.
Rippey, [Eb] good name for Dr. _
[Bb] Rippey, [Ab] would have prescribed for us.
And I lost almost every time.
[G] I had to walk up there about six times in [Bb] three days.
[G] And due to this cough syrup and the fever and generally having the flu,
_ _ _ the food that we'd see, _ we were all having real strange [D] dreams.
[N] _ And I had a dream one night that I was a folk singer and I was writing a song.
And the song was If I Needed You.
And it was one of those dreams that [Bb] was strong enough to where _ _ [N] _
right when it ended I woke up.
And I remembered it and I had [Ab] some paper and a pen right by the side of the mattress which was on the [Bb] floor.
I used to [G] sleep on the floor.
I'd been off the floor for four or five years.
_ I get nervous about it.
[Bm] Mm-hmm.
_ Anyway, I had this [N] piece of paper and pencil and wrote down If I [D] Needed You just like exactly [Bb] real fast.
I knew every guitar note and then went back to sleep.
Totally from a dream?
Totally.
I mean, I woke up just long [Bm] enough to, where's that paper?
_ [N] You write it down.
There's like three verses [D] and then you repeat the first verse.
Uh-huh.
But the main thing was the guitar part, every note.
_ That must have been a vivid dream.
[Ab] It's easy to [Bb] think in a dream but it's hard to [Ab] play and [Eb] get some_
Some things are hard to do in a [D] dream.
If you [Bb] shoot a gun at somebody in [Bb] some kind of [Ab] nightmare, usually the gun doesn't go [D] off.
Or if it does go off, it [Gm] doesn't_
Make a sound.
[D] It doesn't hit the person or make a sound or hit the person or make any difference.
_ [Db] And if [D] you're, say, going to have a drink in a dream, you can always [Bb] get the drink to this close.
[Dm] And all of a sudden it's [N] water or it's_
I mean, there's certain things that don't come through in a dream.
[Bm] Right?
And [Gm] playing guitar is [D] one of them.
And I woke up the next morning [Bm] and we all met in the guy's kitchen every morning for coffee.
And it was real funny, a real_
You [D] know, a little kitchen table and a [G] little room.
A kitchen nook, right?
With [Bb] about four or five guitars, a banjo, [N] leaning around it.
First I'd talk, you know, all the guitars would ring.
I think they call it sympathetic harmonization.
And the guy would talk and all the [Ab] guitars would ring.
Suzanne [G] would talk and all the guitars would ring.
And I said, look, y'all, [Bb] [C] I got you a piece of paper.
Let me play this.
And played it straight through the very first time and it's never been changed.
I played it exactly correct.
From the dream?
[F] First [C] time.
[G] Is that how you [C] create a lot of songs or was just that one time?
The first one. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _
_ If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come to [F] me and [G] ease [C] my pain?
_ If you needed me, I would come to you.
I'd swim the [F] seas for [G] to [C] ease your pain.
_ In the night forlorn are the mornings born.
And the morning [F] shines [G] with the [C] lights of love.
_ You will miss sunrise if you close your eyes.
That would [F] break my [G] heart.
[C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [G] _ [C] _ _
_ _ Lady's with me now since I showed her how to put [F] her lily [G] hand in [C] mine.
_ _ Ruben will agree she's a sight to see and a treasure [F] for [G] the poor [C] to find.
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come [F] to me [G] and ease my [C] pain?
_ _ If you needed me, I would come to you.
I'd swim [F] the seas [G] for to [C] ease your pain.
_ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _ [N] _ _ _
Yeah, there is as a matter of fact.
[Bb] _ Kind [Eb] of a unique [Bb] little story about a [N] song being written. _
I was living with Guy Clark, good friend of mine, and his wife Susanna in Nashville.
And I'd come through Nashville [Gm] to make a record.
And [D] I was living in their spare [G] room in this little bitty house.
[N] And we all got some kind of a _ Asiatic, [G] wasn't the real [Gb] Asiatic for everybody, but it seemed like it.
[N] And we were all real sick and we would have to flip coins in the morning to see who would walk up to the [Gm] drugstore.
We were all [Ab] real broke, [N] and we're still all broke.
We were real broke, man.
And we would all have to walk up to flip coins [Gm] to see who would [Bb] walk up there
and get a bottle of cough syrup that Dr.
Rippey, [Eb] good name for Dr. _
[Bb] Rippey, [Ab] would have prescribed for us.
And I lost almost every time.
[G] I had to walk up there about six times in [Bb] three days.
[G] And due to this cough syrup and the fever and generally having the flu,
_ _ _ the food that we'd see, _ we were all having real strange [D] dreams.
[N] _ And I had a dream one night that I was a folk singer and I was writing a song.
And the song was If I Needed You.
And it was one of those dreams that [Bb] was strong enough to where _ _ [N] _
right when it ended I woke up.
And I remembered it and I had [Ab] some paper and a pen right by the side of the mattress which was on the [Bb] floor.
I used to [G] sleep on the floor.
I'd been off the floor for four or five years.
_ I get nervous about it.
[Bm] Mm-hmm.
_ Anyway, I had this [N] piece of paper and pencil and wrote down If I [D] Needed You just like exactly [Bb] real fast.
I knew every guitar note and then went back to sleep.
Totally from a dream?
Totally.
I mean, I woke up just long [Bm] enough to, where's that paper?
_ [N] You write it down.
There's like three verses [D] and then you repeat the first verse.
Uh-huh.
But the main thing was the guitar part, every note.
_ That must have been a vivid dream.
[Ab] It's easy to [Bb] think in a dream but it's hard to [Ab] play and [Eb] get some_
Some things are hard to do in a [D] dream.
If you [Bb] shoot a gun at somebody in [Bb] some kind of [Ab] nightmare, usually the gun doesn't go [D] off.
Or if it does go off, it [Gm] doesn't_
Make a sound.
[D] It doesn't hit the person or make a sound or hit the person or make any difference.
_ [Db] And if [D] you're, say, going to have a drink in a dream, you can always [Bb] get the drink to this close.
[Dm] And all of a sudden it's [N] water or it's_
I mean, there's certain things that don't come through in a dream.
[Bm] Right?
And [Gm] playing guitar is [D] one of them.
And I woke up the next morning [Bm] and we all met in the guy's kitchen every morning for coffee.
And it was real funny, a real_
You [D] know, a little kitchen table and a [G] little room.
A kitchen nook, right?
With [Bb] about four or five guitars, a banjo, [N] leaning around it.
First I'd talk, you know, all the guitars would ring.
I think they call it sympathetic harmonization.
And the guy would talk and all the [Ab] guitars would ring.
Suzanne [G] would talk and all the guitars would ring.
And I said, look, y'all, [Bb] [C] I got you a piece of paper.
Let me play this.
And played it straight through the very first time and it's never been changed.
I played it exactly correct.
From the dream?
[F] First [C] time.
[G] Is that how you [C] create a lot of songs or was just that one time?
The first one. _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _
_ If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come to [F] me and [G] ease [C] my pain?
_ If you needed me, I would come to you.
I'd swim the [F] seas for [G] to [C] ease your pain.
_ In the night forlorn are the mornings born.
And the morning [F] shines [G] with the [C] lights of love.
_ You will miss sunrise if you close your eyes.
That would [F] break my [G] heart.
[C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ [F] _ _ [G] _ [C] _ _
_ _ Lady's with me now since I showed her how to put [F] her lily [G] hand in [C] mine.
_ _ Ruben will agree she's a sight to see and a treasure [F] for [G] the poor [C] to find.
If I needed you, would you come to me?
Would you come [F] to me [G] and ease my [C] pain?
_ _ If you needed me, I would come to you.
I'd swim [F] the seas [G] for to [C] ease your pain.
_ _ _ [F] _ _ [G] _ _ [C] _ [N] _ _ _