Led Zeppelin - When the Levee Breaks: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "When the Levee Breaks" 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
If it keeps on raining,
levee's going to break
If it keeps on raining,
the levee's going to break

Chorus:
F
When the levee breaks,
we'll have no place to stay

Mean old levee,
taught me to weep and moan, oh
Mean old levee,
taught me to weep and moan

Chorus:
It's got what it takes
to make a mountain man leave his home
Oh well, oh well, oh well
Ooh

F
Don't it make you feel bad
              C
When you're trying to find your way home,
     A#               D#     F
You don't know which way to go?
           F
If you're goin' down South
      C
They got no work to do,
       A#           D#      F
If you don't know about Chicago.
Ah, ah, ah, hey

Ay, yeah
Ay, yeah
Ay, yeah

Crying won't help you,
praying won't do you no good
No, crying won't help you,
praying won't do you no good

Chorus:
When the levee breaks, mama,
you got to move, ooh

All last night I sat on the levee and moaned
All last night, sat on the levee and moaned
Thinking about my baby and my happy home
Oh-ho

Ah, ah, ah, ah-ah
Ah, ah, ah, ah-ah
Oh, oh

Going
I'm going to Chicago
Going to Chicago
Sorry, but I can't take you, ah
Going down, going down now
Going down, I'm going down now
Going down, going down
Going down, going down
Oh
Going down, going down now
Going down, going down now
Going down, going down now
Going down, going, dow- dow- dow- dow- down now
Ooh, ooh


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

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 "When the Levee Breaks" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "When the Levee Breaks" by Led Zeppelin.