Van Morrison - The Great Deception: Guitar Chords

Learn to play "The Great Deception" on your guitar with our detailed chord guide and lyrics. 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.

Learn The Great Deception Guitar Chords and Lyrics by Van Morrison

This section will guide you through each part of the song, providing the guitar chords placed directly above the lyrics for easy playing. Whether you are a beginner or an experienced player, these elements will help you perform "The Great Deception" smoothly on your guitar.

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

                    F#m        E      D
Did you ever hear a-bout The Great Deception?
A
Well, the plastic revolutionaries
                    F#m
take the money and run.
A                  F#m   E       D
Have you ever been down to Love City?
F#m
Where they rip you off with a smile,
        E            A
and it don't take a gun.

Don't it hurt so bad in the Love City?
Don't it make you wanna not bother at all?
And don't they look so self righteous
When they pin you up against the wall?

Chorus:
        E           D
Did you ever, ever see the people,
         C#m                  D
With the tear drops in their eyes?
        E                        D
I just can't stand it, stand it no how,
       C#m               A
Living in this world of lies.

Did you ever hear about the rock and roll singer?
He's got three or four Cadillacs
He's saying power to the people, dance to the music
Wants you to pat him on the back

Have you ever heard about the great Rembrandt?
Have you ever heard about how he could paint?
And he didn't have enough money for his brushes
And they thought it was rather quaint

          E                 D
But you know it's no use repeating,
        C#m                   D
And you know it's no use to think about it.
                E              D        A
'Cos when you stop to think a-bout it; you don't
need it.

Have you ever heard about
the great Hollywood motion picture actor?
Knew more than they did
And the newspapers didn't cover the story
Just decided to keep it hid

Somebody started saying it was an inside job
Whatever happened to him?
Last time they saw him down on the Bowery
With his lip hanging off an old rusty bottle of gin

Have you ever heard about the so-called hippies?
Down on the far side of the tracks
They take the eyeballs straight out of your head
And say "Son, kid, do you want your eyeballs back?"

Chorus:
Did you ever see the people
With the teardrops in their eyes?
Just can't stand it no how
Living in this world of lies

Did you ever hear about the great deception?
Well, the plastic revolutionaries take
the money and run
Have you ever been down to Love City?
Where they rob you with a smile instead of a gun

Did you ever hear about the great deception?


You can simplify chords by removing barre

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Simplify chords by removing barre

Guitar Chord Diagrams

A

Guitar chord A

C#m

Guitar chord C#m

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 "The Great Deception" on the ukulele, check out the chords on our sister site: Ukulele Chords for "The Great Deception" by Van Morrison.

Van Morrison Song List