← Back to library

King Of Alabama

Brent Cobb

RockAdvanced for beginners7 chords

How to play it

Fingering diagrams for the shapes in this song. × = don't play, ○ = open string.

E
A×
BDiagram coming soon
C#mDiagram coming soon
G#mDiagram coming soon
F#mDiagram coming soon
C#Diagram coming soon

Chords & lyrics

Chord names sit directly above the word where you change.

Text size
 
              
Intro 
|E |A |E |A |E |A 
|E |A 
 
verse 1 
         E 
Well, I didn't know him best 
A 
He'd say we were friends 
    B                             E 
We both rode the highways on the song 
        E                        A 
So I'm writing this one here in memory of him 
           B                         E 
'Cause the King of Alabama has gone home 
 
verse 2 
         E 
He was a man among men, the old-school kind 
       A 
Had a great big heart, a laid-back mind 
         B 
Let you hold his guitar if you broke his string 
         A                               B 
If you thought he looked country, outta heard him sing 
 
verse 3 
       E 
From Alabama 'cross the Rio Grande 
             A 
He beat the blacktop down with a five-piece band 
     B 
Not because he loved it - he did that too - 
      A                                       B
But he did it man 'cause that's what he was born to do 
 
C#m           G#m 
Some people calculate moves 
A               E 
He never had a thing to prove 
C#m                        G#m         A    E 
He just let the wind take him where it may 
       F#m 
It's a damn shame the way things go 
     G#m 
It's too bad we have to lose the good folks 
        A        G#m    F#m   B            E    |A 
But the King of Alabama          has gone home 
 
|E |A 
 
verse 4 
        E                                   A 
"Nothin' good ever happens after midnight," so the story goes 
B                       A                    B 
You can't trust nobody, it don't matter how close 
           E                           A 
It was a friend that took him from his family 
             B 
I keep his chain in my pocket, his son in my prayers 
       A                   B 
Every stage I'm on, I can feel him there 
 
C#m          G#m 
Some people calculate moves 
A                 E 
He never had a thing to prove 
C#m                        G#m         A   E 
He just let the wind take him where it may 
        F#m 
It's a damn shame the way things go 
     G#m 
It's too bad we have to lose the good folks 
        A        F#m    B 
But the King of Alabama    has gone home 
 
Solo 
|C#m |G#m |A G#m F#m |A G#m F#m 
|A B F#m |B 
 
C#m             G#m 
Some people calculate moves 
    A           E 
He never had a thing to prove 
C#m                       G#m           A  E 
He just let the wind take him where it may 
C#m                G#m 
Honky tonks would trip 
A                 E 
Get a guitar and beg him to pick 
        C#          G#m            A     E 
Let the old tunes posses you and play 
        F#m 
It's a damn shame the way things go 
     G#m 
It's too bad we have to lose the good folks 
        A        G#m F#m 
But the King of Alabama 
    A       G#m F#m 
The King of Alabama 
    A        G#m F#m B            E   B A 
The King of Alabama     has gone home 
          
 

Details

Rating

Not rated yet

Chord set

E · A · B · C#m · G#m · F#m · C#

Practice tip

Loop the first two chords slowly until the change is clean, then add the rest.