Billy Joel - Keeping The Faith Chords & Tabs

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                     KEEPING THE FAITH - Billy Joel
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Transcribed by Dan Morris (dmorris@cs.stanford.edu)

For most of the verse, the guitar is playing D with a hammer-on
to G every measure :

|-----------------------------|
|--7-x-7-x-x-7-x-x-7h8--7-x-x-|
|--7-x-7-x-x-7-x-x-7----7-x-x-|
|--7-x-7-x-x-7-x-x-7h9--7-x-x-|
|--5-x-5-x-x-5-x-x------------|
|-----------------------------|

--- verse ---

[D]
If it seems like I've been lost in let's remember
[D]
If you think I'm feeling older and missing my younger days
             [G]
Oh, then you should have known me much better
[G]
Cause my past is something that never
          [D]
Got in my way  oh no

[D]
Still I would not be here now if I never had the hunger
[D]
And I'm not ashamed to say the wild boys were my friends
           [G]
Cause I never felt the desire 'til their music set me on fire

--- chorus ---

               [A6]    [G]
And then I was saved, yeah 
                           [A6]
that's why I'm keeping the faith
[G]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
            [D]
Keeping the faith

--- verse ---

We wore matador boots
Only Flagg Brothers had them with the Cuban heel
Iridescent socks with the same color shirt
And a tight pair of chinos
I put on my shark skin jacket
You know the kind with the velvet collar
And ditty-bop shades
I took a fresh pack of Luckies
And a mint called Sen-Sen
My old man's Trojans
And his Old Spice after shave
Combed my hair in a pompadour
Like the rest of the Romeos wore

--- chorus ---
[ Tab from: https://www.guitartabs.cc/tabs/b/billy_joel/keeping_the_faith_crd.html ]
A permanent wave yeah
We were keeping the faith
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Keeping the faith

--- bridge ---

        [A]         [G]         [D]
You can get just so much from a good thing
        [A]        [G]          [D]
You can linger too long in your dreams
        [A]        [G]        [D]
Say goodbye to the oldies but goodies
          [em7]
Cause the good old days weren't always good
    [A7]
And tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems

--- verse ---

Learned stickball as a formal education
Lost a lot of fights nut it taught me how to lose O.K.
I heard about sex but not enough
I found you could dance and still look tough anyway
I found out a man ain't just being macho
Ate an awful lot of late night drive-in food drank a lot of take-home pay
I thought I was the Duke of Earl when I made it with a red-haired girl

--- chorus ---

In a Chevrolet
We were keeping the faith
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Keeping the faith

--- solo ---

[A][G][D]
[A][G][D]
[A][G][D]

         [em7]
You know the good old days weren't always good
    [A7]
And tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems

--- last verse ---

[D]
Now I told you my reasons for the whole revival
Now I'm going outside to have an ice cold beer in the shade
[G]
   I'm going to listen to my 45's, ain't it wonderful to be alive

                       [A6]  [G]
When the rock 'n' roll plays Yeah
                [A6]  [G]
When the memory stays Yeah
                [A6]
I'm keeping the faith
[G]
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
[D]
Keeping the faith...


----------------------------------
Dan Morris
dmorris@cs.stanford.edu
http://techhouse.brown.edu/dmorris
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