The French Revolution chords by History Teachers

• Difficulty: Beginner

Key: Am

Intro:


         F                G
Inequality, the relics of feudalism
Am            C
Revolution in France
              F                       G
Oh, The Three Estates ensured nobles' favoritism
E             Am
Revolution in France
Am
La la Liberté
Am
E-E-galité
Am
Fra-Fra-ternité
Am
A Revolution

Verse 1:

Am
Don’t want no taxes
C          F
I’m paying too much
Am
Let them eat cake
C                F
We had a banquet for lunch
          Am
I need my bread
C           F
Bread bread bread
             Am  C G
Off with her head
Am                  C          F
It went from 8 sous to 12 in a year
Am                  C                  F
Exactly what impoverished peasants had feared
           Am
The royals jeered
C     F
Ha ha ha
             Am    C G
There’s more for us

Refrain:

F
There was a famine
F
The peasants wouldn’t pay
F
Bad malnutrition and tooth decay

Chorus:

F                      G
It went from famine to Napoleon’s war
            Am                C
You and me, let’s start a revolution
F                          G
We will not take this poverty anymore
            Am                C
You and me, let’s start a revolution
            F                    G
On a tennis court, we swore to a constitution
E             Am
Revolution in France
            F                              G
On July fourteen, we stormed the Bastille, we showed them
E             Am
Revolution in France


Post-Chorus:

Am
La la Liberté
Am
E-E-galité
Am
Fra-Fra-ternité
Am
French Revolution

Verse 2:

Am
The month of August
     C             F
Seventeen eighty nine
Am
No feudalism
     C            F
Declaration of Rights
       Am
August Decrees,
      C            Am     C G
swept away the two estates
Am
Women of Paris
      C           F
March down to Versailles
Am
Carrying weapons, the
     C             F
French king they defied
               Am
You’ll give us bread
       C                   Am       C G
Bread Bread! Or we’ll stab you dead!

Refrain:

F
A new constitution (I'm a Jacobin, baby!)
F
With a limited monarchy
F
It was a bad time for France

Chorus:

F                     G
We took on Austria, a war in the spring
            Am               C
Europe frightened by our revolution
F                         G
We will not take it Louis Sixteen must die
             Am               C
Tension heightened by our revolution
        F               G
Radical political mobs unite to start a
E             Am
Revolution in France
                 F                     G
Breech-less sans-culottes of the Paris Commune demanded
E             Am
Revolution in France

Post-Chorus:

Am
La la Liberté
Am
E-E-galité
Am
Fra-Fra-ternité
Am
French Revolution
Am
La la Liberté
Am
E-E-galité
Am
Fra-Fra-ternité
Am
French Revolution

Breakdown:

Am
Walk, walk, scaffold, baby
C              G
Guillotine was going crazy
Am
Take heads of kings and ladies
C                G
Europe armed for the invading
F
Walk walk scaffold, baby
F
Guillotine was going crazy
F
Robespierre, Reign of Terror
F
Did it for the Public Safety

Bridge:

F                   G
I want your loyalty or I’ll get my revenge
           Am
I take you out
                  C
Till your rebellion ends
F
Don’t want no church
       G
Catholicism’s dead
            E            Am
No room for God, Worship reason instead

Chorus:

         F                   G
Good ol’ Notre Dame became a “temple of reason”
E             Am
Revolution in France
           F                         G
A new calendar with months named for times and seasons
E             Am
Revolution in France
           F                          G
The Terror ended and with Robespierre gone
             Am                C
Was this the ending of the revolution?
                F                 G
Five members of the new Directory ruled
              Am          C
Could it be a permanent solution?
          F                           G
Directory and legislature filled with corruption
E             Am
Revolution in France
                F                             G
Monarchists and wars would cause even more disruption
E             Am
Revolution in France

Post-Chorus:

Am
Ooh, ooh, ooh la la
Am
Coo-Coo coup d'état
Am
Ooh, ooh, ooh la la
Am
Napoleon’s here!