Footlights Chords

KeyA Capo1st fret TuningStandard Difficulty Plays486

Footlights by Merle Haggard is a beginner-friendly guitar song played in the key of A with a capo on the 1st fret. It uses the chords A, D and E. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.

Transpose
A
Text
16
Speed
  			 
 
  A                     D             A 
I live the kind of life most men only dream of 
  A                      E                 A   
I make my livin' writin' songs and singin' them 
        A                        D                            A 
But I'm 41 years old and I ain't got no place to go when it's over 
     A                                   E                              A 
So I hide my age, and make the stage and try to kick the footlights out again 
 
 
I throw my old guitar across the stage and then my bassman takes the ball 
And the crowd goes nearly wild, To see my guitar nearly fall 
After 20 years of pickin', we're still alive and kickin' down the walls 
Tonight I'll kick the footlights out and walk away without a curtain call 

  D  
Tonight I'll kick the footlights out again, 
    D                               A 
And try to hide the mood I?m really in 
                             E 
And put on my old instamatic grin, 
                                      A 
Tonight I'll kick the footlights out again 
 
 
I' live the kind of life most men only dream of 
I make my livin' writin' songs, and singin' them 
But I'm forty-some years old and I ain't got no place to go when it's over 
So I?ll hide my age and make the stage and try to kick the footlights out again 
    	

Chord diagrams

Guitar tuner

--
Start the tuner and play a string

Reference tones

Standard tuning, lowest to highest. Click a string to play it; the string the mic hears is highlighted.

Click Start tuner and allow microphone access. The needle centers and turns green when a string is in tune (within 5 cents).
No microphone? You can still tap any string above to hear its exact reference pitch.

Metronome

100 BPM Andante