Johnny Cash - There Ain't No Good Chain Gang: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" 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.

A#
Bet it ain't raining back home,
A#
Bet you sister's still on the phone,
    D#                     A#              G
Bet momma's in the kitchen cooking fried chicken,
D#              F           A#
Wishing that I hadn't done wrong

A#
Momma, don't you worry about it none though,
Everything's gonna be alright, momma,
They're teaching us a lot of new things in here, momma,

Chorus:
A#
Things like there ain't no good in an evil hearted woman,
A#
And I ain't cut out to be no Jesse James,
A#       D#                          A#            G
And you don't go writing hot checks down in Mississippi,
           D#   C# A#    G#   A#
And there ain't no good chain gang.

Papa's reading yesterday's mail
Wishing that the hay was all baled
I bet he's wishing we could go fishing
And here I am laying in jail

A#
Well, papa, don't you worry about it none,
Now, everything's gonna be alright, papa,
They're teaching us a lesson today,
We're learning pretty well too,
We've already learned a whole lot of stuff already

Chorus:
There is no good in an evil-hearted woman
And I'm not cut out to be no Jesse James
And you don't go writing hot cheques down in Mississippi
And there is no good chain gang

There is no good in an evil-hearted woman
And I'm not cut out to be no Jesse James
And you don't go writing hot cheques down in Mississippi
And there is no good chain gang

There is no good in an evil-hearted woman
And I'm not cut out to be no Jesse James
And you don't go writing hot cheques down in Mississippi
And there is no good chain gang

There is no good in an evil-hearted woman
And I'm not cut out to be no Jesse James
And you don't go writing hot cheques down in Mississippi
And there is no good chain gang


You can simplify chords by removing barre

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Simplify chords by removing barre

Guitar Chord Diagrams

A#

Guitar chord A#

C#

Guitar chord C#

D#

Guitar chord D#

F

Guitar chord F

G

Guitar chord G

G#

Guitar chord G#

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 "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "There Ain't No Good Chain Gang" by Johnny Cash.

Johnny Cash Song List