Bob Marley - Johnny Was: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "Johnny Was" on your guitar with our chord guide. This page provides everything you need to perform this song on the guitar, including lyrics integrated with chords, chord diagrams, and a key transposer to match your vocal range.

For easier playing, use our Simplify Chords feature to remove difficult chords like barre.

F#m
Woman hold her head and cry,
          D            C#m7
'Cos her son had been shot down in the
   E        Bm7
street and died,
D       C#m7  F#m
From a stray bullet.

F#m
Woman hold her head and cry,
    D          C#m7       E     Bm7
Explaining to her, was a passerby;
    D       C#m7  F#m
Who saw the woman cry. Wondering...

F#m
How can she work it out,
        D              C#m7     E      Bm7
Now she knows that the wages of sin is death, yeah?
D        C#m7   F#m
 Gift of Jah is life. She cried...

Chorus:
A  Bm7 C#m7 Bm7                 A      Bm7
Ah-um, I, I know; Johnny was a good man.
C#m7  Bm7                A           Bm7
I, I know; Johnny was a good, good, good,
      C#m7        Bm7
Good, good, good, good, good, good, good, good man".
             A                    Bm7 C#m7  Bm7
(Johnny was good man), she cried, she cri....ed.

Woman hold her head and cry
As her son had been shot down in the street and died
Just because of the system
Woman hold her head and cry
Comforting her I was passing by
She complained, then she cried

Chorus:
Whoa-oh, oh, ah
Yeah, I know now
(Johnny was a good man)
Said I know
(Never did a thing wrong)
Ah ah
(Johnny was a good man)
Can a woman tender care?
She cried
(Never did a thing wrong)
Cease towards the child she bear
(Johnny was a good man)
Oh, woman cried
Woman, she cried, oh, she cried, yeah
Can a woman tender care
Cease towards the child she bears
Woman cry


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Simplify chords by removing barre

Guitar Chord Diagrams

A

Guitar chord A

Bm7

Guitar chord Bm7

C#m7

Guitar chord C#m7

D

Guitar chord D

E

Guitar chord E

F#m

Guitar chord F#m

Here you can see detailed diagrams for each guitar chord used in the song. Utilize our key transposer to adjust the chords to a key that better fits your singing range. Simply select the desired key, and the chords throughout this page will update automatically, ensuring you can play and sing comfortably.

If you are also interested in learning how to play "Johnny Was" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "Johnny Was" by Bob Marley.

Bob Marley Song List