Songnotes

the hand-crafted music library of @davidpots

  

follow Songnotes:

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

Share

Transcription, content, and notes for this song were written by David Potsiadlo. Like what you see? Tell your friends:

Recently Added

Here are the songs I have recently learned and added to the site. I typically will add one new song each week.

Browse All Songs

Here's a list of the 171 songs I've added to the site since December 2012. Each song was added by me personally.

Songs are grouped by the year they were released.

2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2006
2005
2004
2003
2002
2001
2000
1999
1998
1997
1996
1995
1994
1993
1992
1991
1990
1989
1988
1985
1984
1983
1982
1981
1980
1977
1975
1974
1972
1971
1970
1969
1968
1967
1965
1961
1960
1958
1957

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.