Pop music - Part 10

That’s Life!

“That’s Life” is a popular song written by Dean Kay and Kelly Gordon, and first recorded in 1963 by Marion Montgomery. The song has an uplifting message that, despite the ups and downs in life, one should not give up but keep positive, because soon one will be “back on top.”

The most famous version is by Frank Sinatra, released on his 1966 album That’s Life. Sinatra recorded the song after hearing an earlier recording of it by O.C. Smith; the song proved successful and reached the #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Following the success of Sinatra’s version, it was subsequently recorded by a number of artists including Aretha Franklin, James Booker, Shirley Bassey, James Brown, Van Morrison, David Lee Roth, Michael Bolton, Lady Gaga, Michael Bublé, Russell Watson, Deana Martin, and Holt McCallany. Sinatra’s version appeared in the 1993 film A Bronx Tale, the 1995 film Casper, the 2019 film Joker and its 2024 sequel Joker: Folie à Deux, the 2004 video game Tony Hawk’s Underground 2, as well as the sixth season finale of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, while a cover by Bono was on the soundtrack of The Good Thief (2002). The song was sung by Manny Delgado (Rico Rodriguez) in the episode “Bad Hair Day” of the television show Modern Family. That’s Life lead sheet in C

Paul2026-03-11T11:37:48-04:00

Creep

creep chords and lyrics

“Creep” is the debut single by the English rock band Radiohead, released on 21 September 1992 by EMI. It was included on Radiohead’s debut album, Pablo Honey (1993). It features “blasts” of guitar noise and lyrics describing an obsessive unrequited attraction.

Radiohead had not planned to release “Creep”, and recorded it at the suggestion of the producers, Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie, while they were working on other songs. They took elements from the 1972 song “The Air That I Breathe” by Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood. Following legal action, Hammond and Hazlewood were credited as co-writers.

Kolderie convinced EMI to release “Creep” as a single. It was initially unsuccessful, but achieved radio play in Israel and became popular on American alternative rock radio. It was reissued in 1993 and became an international hit, likened to alt-rock “slacker anthems” such as “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana and “Loser” by Beck. Reviews of “Creep” were mostly positive.

EMI pressured Radiohead to match the success, which created tension during the recording of their second album, The Bends (1995). Radiohead departed from the style of “Creep” and grew weary of it, feeling it set narrow expectations of their music, and did not perform it for several years. Though they achieved greater commercial and critical success with later albums, “Creep” remains Radiohead’s most successful single. Rolling Stone named it one of the greatest debut singles, and […]

Paul2026-04-20T08:28:07-04:00

Every Rose Has Its Thorn

Every_Rose_Has_It’s_Thorn

“Every Rose Has Its Thorn” is a power ballad by American glam metal band Poison. It was released in October 1988 as the third single from Poison’s second album Open Up and Say… Ahh!. The band’s signature song, it is also their only number-one hit in the US, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 24, 1988, for three weeks.

It also charted at number 11 on the Mainstream Rock chart. It was a number 13 hit in the UK. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn” was named number 34 on VH1’s “100 Greatest Songs of the 80s”, number 100 on their “100 Greatest Love Songs” and number seven on MTV and VH1 “Top 25 Power Ballads”. Billboard ranked the song number five on their list of “The 10 Best Poison Songs”.

In an interview with VH1’s Behind the Music, Bret Michaels said the inspiration for the song came from a night when he was in a laundromat in Dallas waiting for his clothes to dry, and called his girlfriend on a pay phone. Michaels said he heard a male voice in the background and was devastated; he said he went into the laundromat and wrote “Every Rose […]

Paul2026-05-03T08:10:25-04:00

Let It Be Me

guitar chords, lyrics and notation

“Let It Be Me” is a 1960 single by The Everly Brothers. The song is an English-language cover of “Je t’appartiens”, which had been released as a single in France by Gilbert Bécaud in 1955. The song was a top ten hit for The Everly Brothers in the United States and spawned many additional cover versions.

“Let It Be Me” is based on “Je t’appartiens”, which was written by Gilbert Bécaud and his frequent collaborator, lyricist Pierre Delanoë. Delanoë reportedly wrote the lyrics for Bécaud as an apology for missing one of the singer’s performances at the Olympia in Paris. The song, sung by Bécaud, was released as a single by His Master’s Voice in 1955.

The Everley Brothers recorded their version of “Let It Be Me” after the song was recommended to them by producer Archie Bleyer. They recorded the song in December 1959 in New York with guitarists Howard Collins, Barry Galbraith, and Mundell Lowe; bassist Lloyd Trotman, pianist Hank Rowland, and drummer Jerry Allison. The song was released by Cadence Records as a single in 1960, with “Since You Broke My Heart” as the B-side.

audio recording from notation

Paul2026-04-23T15:03:19-04:00

Beautiful People

“Beautiful People” a lovely tune by Melanie Safka employs a really interesting chord change. Centered in A, it moves to C# as the root, which is the 3rd for A. This is probably much more common than I think, but it just caught me how perfect the chord change is as it relates to the cadence of the lyrics. Pretty Cool.

“Our calling is therefore the way of being that is both best for us and best for the world.” – David Benner

Paul2026-05-02T09:56:16-04:00

And I Love Her

And I Love Her, a beautiful Lennon/McCartney tune.

Here are tabs, lyrics, notation and chord diagrams for this first part. You might notice that some chords you already know in one position are played in another spot, and this is so we can take advantage of moving the chord shape to get the proper voicing.

“I merely took the energy it takes to pour and wrote some blues.” – Duke Ellington

Paul2026-05-12T12:30:49-04:00

that old black magic

“That Old Black Magic” is a 1942 popular song written by Harold Arlen (music), with the lyrics by Johnny Mercer. They wrote it for the 1942 film Star Spangled Rhythm, when it was sung by Johnny Johnston and danced by Vera Zorina. The song was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1943 but lost out to “You’ll Never Know”.

The song was published in 1942 and has become an often-recorded standard, with versions that include the original single release by Glenn Miller, by the singers Margaret Whiting, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Mercer himself, and others. Mercer wrote the lyrics with Judy Garland in mind. Garland recorded the song for Decca Records in 1942. Mercer recalled wanting to write a song about magic, and while composing, asking Arlen to write more music so the song could go on longer, but that they still wrote the whole song in about three hours. Billy Daniels recorded the song in 1949 and it became his trademark recording.

Download the lead sheet PDF

“The most powerful music is music with purpose.” – Tom Morello

Paul2026-03-11T16:57:14-04:00

let it be part 1

“Let It Be” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 6 March 1970 as a single, and (in an alternative mix) as the title track of their album Let It Be. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney, and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The single version of the song, produced by George Martin, features a softer guitar solo and the orchestral section mixed low, compared with the album version, produced by Phil Spector, featuring a more aggressive guitar solo and the orchestral sections mixed higher.

At the time, it had the highest debut on the Billboard Hot 100, beginning its chart run at number 6 and eventually reaching the top. It was the Beatles’ final single before McCartney announced his departure from the band. Both the Let It Be album and the US single “The Long and Winding Road” were released after McCartney’s announced departure from and the subsequent break-up of the group.

“I adore art… when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear.” – Guiseppe Verdi

Paul2026-05-02T10:37:30-04:00

How to play wonderful world- Sam Cooke

Play wonderful world for solo acoustic guitar, Sam Cooke version. Composed by Lou Adler/Herb Alpert

Chords and lyrics

A great song to do fingerstyle in the key of B. “Wonderful World” (occasionally referred to as “(What A) Wonderful World”) is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Released on April 14, 1960, by Keen Records, it had been recorded during an impromptu session the previous year in March 1959, at Sam Cooke’s last recording session at Keen. He signed with RCA Victor in 1960 and “Wonderful World,” then unreleased, was issued as a single in competition. The song was mainly composed by songwriting team Lou Adler and Herb Alpert, but Cooke revised the lyrics to mention the subject of education more. “Wonderful World” ended up doing substantially better on the charts than several of his early RCA singles, becoming his biggest hit single since “You Send Me” (1957). The song peaked at number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit number two on Billboard’s Hot R&B Sides chart. Herman’s Hermits charted with their recording of the song in 1965, reaching number one in Canada, number four in the United States, and number seven in the United Kingdom, respectively. A remake by Art Garfunkel with James Taylor and Paul Simon charted at number 17 in 1978. The Sam Cooke version was featured in the […]

Paul2026-04-15T07:51:42-04:00

How to play hallelujah

Hallelujah

Taking some time to figure out how to play ascending and descending chord tones is a great exercise for guitar students. The pdf linked above has tabs and chord charts for the first part of the song as illustrated in the video below. Enjoy practicing how to move slowly between chord shapes as you arpeggiate them! You can apply this technique to tons of songs.

“Hallelujah” is a song written by Canadian singer Leonard Cohen, originally released on his album Various Positions (1984). Achieving little initial success, the song found greater popular acclaim through a new version recorded by John Cale in 1991. Cale’s version inspired a 1994 recording by Jeff Buckley which in 2004 was ranked number 259 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song achieved widespread popularity after Cale’s version of it was featured in the 2001 film Shrek. Many other arrangements have been performed in recordings and in concert, with more than 300 versions known as of 2008. The song has been used in film and television soundtracks and televised talent contests. “Hallelujah” experienced renewed interest following Cohen’s death in November 2016 and re-appeared on international singles charts, including entering the American Billboard Hot 100 for the first time.

“What stands in […]

Paul2026-04-23T14:55:33-04:00