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Note: There are more Tom Petty tabs on this site in the 'P' file under 'Petty Tom'.
There are quite a few tabs for this classic song but I'm pretty sure most of them,
which are tabbed in the key of D, are wrong. If you use standard tuning and place a
capo on the third fret you can play the song keyed in F which I think sounds a lot
better.
Chords used:
F Fsus4 Csus4
e|-----5-----6-----3-----
B|-----6-----6-----6-----
G|-----5-----5-----5-----
D|-----3-----3-----5-----
A|-----------------3-----
E|-----------------------
I'm going to tab the song for guitar 1 as though the capoed third fret was the
guitar's open tuning. Guitar 2 is tabbed in standard tuning.
Intro:
Guitar 1: Acoustic
g|--2--3----3-2--0--|--2--3----3-2--0--|
D|--3--3----3-3--3--|--3--3----3-3--3--|
A#|--2--2----2-2--2--|--2--2----2-2--2--|
F|--0--0----0-0--2--|--0--0----0-0--2--|
C|---------------0--|---------------0--|
G|------------------|------------------|
Verse 1:
Guitar 1 with a down strum on each chord only.
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4 |---------Note---------
She's a good girl lo----ves her mama, | Commas, full-stops
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4 |and exclamation marks
Loves Jesus and Amer -- ica too. |in the lyrics denote
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4 |the separation between
She's a good girl cra zy 'bout Elvis, |two bars of the music.
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4 |
She loves horses and her boy - friend too. |
Verse 2:
Guitar 1 continues with single down strum, drums and bass come in.
Bass line:
A|o----1----1-0--3-o|-----This same riff is repeated throughout------|
E|o-1--------------o|-----most of the song and doesn't change.-------|
Lyrics:
An' it's a long day livin' in Reseda,
There's a freeway runnin' through the yard,
An' I'm a bad boy 'cause I don't even miss her,
I'm a bad boy for breakin' her heart.
Chorus:
Guitar 1 strums the chords in a different pattern but with exactly the same timing
and progression.
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Now I'm free!
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
I'm free fallin'!
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Yeah I'm free!
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
I'm free fallin'!
Verse 3:
And all the vampires walking through the valley,
Move west down Ventura Boulevard,
And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows,
And the good girls are at home with broken hearts.
Chorus:
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Now I'm free!
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
I'm free fallin'!
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Yeah I'm free!
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
I'm free fallin'!
First bridge:
Guitar 1:
g|--2---3----3-2--0----|----2--3----3-2--0--|
D|--3---3----3-3--3----|----3--3----3-3--3--|
A#|--2---2----2-2--2----|----2--2----2-2--2--|
F|--0---0----0-0--2----|----0--0----0-0--2--|
C|----------------0----|------------0-------|
G|---------------------|--------------------|
Guitar 2: Electric, clean
D|--------------7--7-5--3h5-3---------------|<-There are two bars in
Bass line: here but I couldn't
A|------1----1-0--3----|--------1----1-0--3-| show that without it
E|--1------------------|----1---------------| looking messy.
Backing vocals:
Free fallin' now I'm free fallin' now I
Play the above twice.
Verse 4:
Guitar 1 reverting to the single strum pattern
I wanna glide down over Mulholland,
I wanna write her name in the sky,
Gonna free fall out into nothing,
Gonna leave this world for a while.
Chorus (with backing vocals):
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
And I'm free!
(fallin' now I'm free fallin')
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Free fallin'!
(now I'm free fallin' now I'm free fallin')
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Yeah I'm free!
(fallin' now I'm free fallin')
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Free fallin'!
(now I'm free fallin' now I'm free fallin')
Second bridge (with backing vocals):
Guitar 2:
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
e|--------------------|------------------------|
B|--------------------|------------------------|
G|--------------------|------------------------|
D|--------------------|------------------------|
A|--3-3-3-3\8-8-8-8-8-|-8-3-3-3\10-10-10-10-10-|
E|--1-1-1-1\6-6-6-6-6-|-6-1-1-1\8--8--8--8--8--|
1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
e|--------------------|------------------------|
B|--------------------|------------------------|
G|--------------------|------------------------|
D|--------------------|------------------------|
A|--3-3-3-3\8-8-8-8-8-|-8-3-3-3\10-10-10-10-10-|
E|--1-1-1-1\6-6-6-6-6-|-6-1-1-1\8--8--8--8--8--|
Free fallin' now I'm free fallin'
Chorus (with backing vocals):
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Yeah I'm free!
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Free fallin'!
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Ow!
(free fallin' now I'm free fallin')
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Free fallin'!
(now I'm free fallin' now I'm free fallin')
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
Yeah I'm free-ee! Ow!
(free fallin' now I'm free fallin')
F Fsus4 Fsus4 F Csus4
I'm free fallin'!
(free fallin' now I'm free fallin')
The song finishes fading here. That's it! I hope it's not too messy and you can
understand how all those choruses go.
Written by Jeff Lynne/Tom Petty