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Watching the Wheels

John Lennon

from the album Double Fantasy released in 1981

jump to: lyrics / notes & tabs / chord progressions / song info

Lyrics

Intro

    | C . . . | F . . . | C . . . | F . . . |


Verse

    C                       F 
    People say I'm crazy...
                   C 
    Doing what I'm doing
               C                              F 
    Well, they give me all kinds of warnings
                    F 
    To save me from ruin


Pre-Chorus

        F               Dm 
        When I say that I'm OK
                   G 
        Well, they look at me kind of strange
        F                 Dm 
        Surely you're not happy now
               G 
        You no longer play the game

    C                   F 
    People say I'm lazy
                C 
    Dreaming my life away
              C                           F 
    Well they give me all kinds of advice
                  C 
    Designed to enlighten me

               F                  Dm 
        When I tell them that I'm doing fine
                 G 
        Watching shadows on the wall
        F                  Dm 
        Don't you miss the big time boy
                  G 
        You're no longer on the ball


Chorus

            F           G                         C                   Am 
            ...I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
            F           Dm                        F 
            ...I really love to watch them roll
            G                          Am 
            ...No longer riding on the merry-go-round
            F         F7               C - C/B - C/A      C/G - F 
            ...I just had to let it go

        C                        F 
    Ah, people asking questions
               C 
    Lost in confusion
            C                            F 
    Well, I tell them there's no problem
           C 
    Only solutions

                   F                          Dm 
        Well, they shake their heads and they look at me
           G 
        As if I've lost my mind
          F                    Dm 
        I tell them there's no hurry
                 G 
        I'm just sitting here doing time

            F                                     C                   Am 
            ...I'm just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round
            F           Dm                        F 
            ...I really love to watch them roll
            G                          Am 
            ...No longer riding on the merry-go-round
            F         F7                    C    C/B    C/A    C/G 
            ...I just had to let it go
            F         Fm6              Cmaj7 
            ...I just had to let it go

Notes & Tabs

Note that this is modeled after the acoustic version of the song.

Very standard chords for the most part. Many of the F chords seem to in fact be Fmaj7, my preferred variant of which is shown below. Also note the Fm, Cmaj7, and the C walkdowns.

e-|---1----0----1----3---|--0------1----1------0-----|---0----0-----0-----0-----|-
B-|---1----1----3----0---|--1------1----1------0-----|---1----1-----1-----1-----|-
G-|---2----0----2----0---|--2------2----1------0-----|---0----0-----0-----0-----|-
D-|---3----2----0----0---|--3------1----3------2-----|---2----------------------|-
A-|---3----3---------2---|-(3)-----3----3------3-----|---3----2-----0-----------|-
E-|---1--------------3---|-(1)-----1----1------------|--------------------3-----|-
      F    C    Dm   G     Fmaj7   F7   Fm    Cmaj7      C    C/B   C/A   C/G

Chord Progressions

Intro

| C . . . | F . . . | C . . . | F . . . |

Verse

"People say I'm crazy..."
| C . . . | F . . . | C . . . | . . . . |
| C . . . | F . . . | C . . . | . . . . |

Pre-Chorus

"When the say that I'm okay..."
| F . Dm . | G . . . | F . Dm . | G . . . |
| G . .  . |

Chorus

"I'm just sitting here watching the wheels..."
| F . G . | C  . Am . | F . Dm . | .  .  F   .   |
| G . . . | Am . .  . | F . F7 . | C C/B C/A C/G |
| F . . . | F  . .  . |

Ending

walkdown after the first "I just had to let it go..."
| C . C/B . | C/A . C/G . | F . Fm . | Cmaj7 . . . | (let ring)

Song Info

Song: Watching the Wheels
Artist: John Lennon
Album: Double Fantasy
Year: 1981
Label: Geffen

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About

My name is David Potsiadlo, and I created Songnotes to share my collection of guitar tabs, chords, and lyrics for my favorite songs.

Since I started playing guitar over 10 years ago, I've often been frustrated by the preponderance of mediocre and incomplete song tabs littered across the internet. To combat this, I started keeping my own collection of notes for each song I learn -- always taking the extra time to make sure accuracy and completeness are never compromised. Years later, my collection grew to the point where I knew I had to share it online with fellow aspiring musicians.

In December 2012, I began designing & developing a website that became Songnotes. Here, I share my personal collection of hand-crafted music notation with all those online. I hope you enjoy.

You can also view my personal website or follow me on Twitter / Dribbble / GitHub / LinkedIn.