Sting - Fortress Around Your Heart: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "Fortress Around Your Heart" 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.

G#m
Under the ruins of a walled city
Crumbling towers and beams of yellow light
No flags of truce, no cries of pity
The siege guns had been pounding all through the night

D#
It took a day to build the city
We walked through its streets in the afternoon

F#m
As I returned across the fields I'd known
I recognized the walls that I'd once made
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
    B7
Of walking on the mines I'd laid

Chorus:
   Em     D/F#       G   Am     D
And if I built this fortress around your heart
   Em      D/F#    G      Am          D
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
  Em        D/F#      G    Am      D
Then let me build a bridge, for I cannot fill the chasm
    Cm7    Dm7     D#7    F
And let me set the battlements on fire

Then I went off to fight some battle
That I'd invented inside my head
Away so long for years and years
You probably thought or even wished that I was dead

While the armies are all sleeping
Beneath the tattered flag we'd made
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid

Chorus:
And if I built this fortress around your heart
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge
For I cannot fill the chasm
And let me set the battlements on fire

This prison has now become your home
A sentence you seem prepared to pay
It took a day to build the city
We walked through its streets in the afternoon

As I returned across the lands I'd known
I recognized the fields where I'd once played
I had to stop in my tracks for fear
Of walking on the mines I'd laid

Chorus:
And if I built this fortress around your heart
Encircled you in trenches and barbed wire
Then let me build a bridge
For I cannot fill the chasm
And let me set the battlements on fire


You can simplify chords by removing barre

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Simplify chords by removing barre

Guitar Chord Diagrams

Am

Guitar chord Am

Cm

Guitar chord Cm

Cm7

Guitar chord Cm7

D

Guitar chord D

Dm

Guitar chord Dm

D#

Guitar chord D#

Dm7

Guitar chord Dm7

D#7

Guitar chord D#7

Em

Guitar chord Em

F

Guitar chord F

F#

Guitar chord F#

F#m

Guitar chord F#m

G

Guitar chord G

G#m

Guitar chord G#m

B7

Guitar chord B7

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 "Fortress Around Your Heart" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "Fortress Around Your Heart" by Sting.