Johnny Cash - One Piece at a Time: Guitar Chords
Learn to play "One Piece at a Time" 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 Well I left Kentucky back in '49 A# And went to Detroit working on assembly line C7 F The first year they had me putting wheels on Cadillac's Every day I'd watch them beauties roll by A# And sometimes I'd hang my head and cry C7 F 'Cause I always wanted me one that was long and black One day I devised myself a plan That should be the envy of most any man I'd sneak it out of there in a lunchbox in my hand Now getting caught meant getting fired But I figured I'd have it all by the time I retired I'd have me a car worth at least a hundred grand Chorus: A# I'd get it one piece at a time and it wouldn't cost me a dime C7 F You'll know it's me when I come through your town A# I'm gonna ride around in style I'm gonna drive everybody wild C7 F 'Cause I'll have the only one there is around So the very next day when I punched in With my big lunchbox, and with help from my friend I left that day with a lunchbox full of gears I've never considered myself a thief But GiM wouldn't miss just one little piece Especially if I strung it out over several years The first day I got me a fuel pump And the next day I got me an engine and a trunk Then I got me a transmission and all of the chrome The little things I could get in my big lunchbox Like nuts, and bolts, and all four shocks But the big stuff we snuck out in my buddy's mobile home Now, up to now my plan went all right Until we tried to put it all together one night And that's when we noticed that something was definitely wrong The transmission was a '53 And the motor turned out to be a '73 And when we tried to put in the bolts all the holes were gone So we drilled it out so that it would fit And with a little bit of help from an a-daptor kit We had that engine running just like a song Now the headlights, they was another sight We had two on the left and one on the right But when we pulled out the switch all three of them come on The back end looked kind of funny too But we put it together and when we got through Well, that's when we noticed that we only had one tail-fin About that time my wife walked out And I could see in her eyes that she had her doubts But she opened the door and said "Honey, take me for a spin" So we drove up town just to get the tags And I headed her right on down main drag I could hear everybody laughing for blocks around But up there at the court house they didn't laugh Because to type it up it took the whole staff And when they got through the title weighed sixty pounds Chorus F Uh, yeah, Red Ryder? This is the Cotton Mouth In the Psycho-Billy Cadillac, come on Huh? This is the Cotton Mouth And negatory on the cost of this mochine, there, Red Ryder You might say I went right up to the factory And picked it up, it's cheaper that way Uh, what model is it? F A# Well it's a '49, '50, '51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56 C7 F '57 '58' 59' Automobile A# It's a '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '67 C7 F '68, '69, '70 Automobile You can simplify chords by removing barre | TransposeReset Font SizeReset Guitar Chord DiagramsA#  C7  F  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 "One Piece at a Time" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "One Piece at a Time" by Johnny Cash.