1979 chords by The Smashing Pumpkins

Chords with lyrics (Ver. 2)

• Capo on 2nd

Tuning: Half-Step Down (EbAbDbGbBbeb)

Intro Riff:
|Dmaj7Dmaj7 D5D5|
|Dmaj7Dmaj7 D5D5|


Verse 1:
 G+G        Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
Shakedown 1979,

 G+G             Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
Cool kids never have the time.

 G+G                 E minor 7Em7
On a live wire right up off the street

     A augmentedA        Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
You and I should meet.

Verse 2:
 G+G             Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
Junebug skipping like a stone

 G+G                Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
With headlights pointed at the dawn.

 G+G
We were sure we'd never see

  E minor 7Em7      A augmentedA
An end to it all.


Chorus 1:
 D5D5       Dmaj7Dmaj7    Gmaj7/D              D5D5
And I don't even care to shake these zipper blues,

   Dmaj7Dmaj7     Gmaj7/D                D5D5
And we don't know just where our bones will rest.

  Dmaj7Dmaj7     Gmaj7/D
To dust I guess,

        E minor 7Em7          A augmentedA     Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
Forgotten and absorbed into the earth be-low.

Riff:
|G+G  Dmaj7Dmaj7 D5D5|


Verse 3:
 G+G                 Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
Double cross the vacant and the bored,

 G+G                    Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
They're not sure just what we have in store.

 G+G            E minor 7Em7       A augmentedA
Morphine city slippin' dues down to see.


Chorus 2:
 D5D5     Dmaj7Dmaj7    Gmaj7/D            D5D5
We don't even care as restless as we are,

  Dmaj7Dmaj7     Gmaj7/D                D5D5
We feel the pull in the land of a thousand guilts.

   Dmaj7Dmaj7    Gmaj7/D
And poured cement,

       A augmentedA
Lamented and assured.


Bridge:
           B minorBm    G+G
To the lights - and towns below,

 A augmentedA          B minorBm     G+G
Faster than - the speed of sound.

 A augmentedA         B minorBm       G+G
Faster than - we thought we'd go,

  E minor 7Em7      A augmentedA         Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
Be-neath the sound - of hope.


Verse 4:
 G+G            Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
Justine never knew the rules,

 G+G                Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
Hung down with the freaks and ghouls.

 G+G              Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
No apologies ever need be made,

 D5D5            E minor 7Em7      A augmentedA
I know better than you fake it to see.


Chorus 3:
 D5D5        Dmaj7Dmaj7    Gmaj7/D              D5D5
That we don't even care to shake these zipper blues,

   Dmaj7Dmaj7     Gmaj7/D                D5D5
And we don't know just where out bones will rest.

  Dmaj7Dmaj7    Gmaj7/D
To dust I guess,

        E minor 7Em7          A augmentedA     Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
Forgotten and absorbed into the earth be-low.


Coda:
 G+G                 Dmaj7Dmaj7    D5D5
The street heats the urgency of now,

 G+G              D5D5
As you see there's no-one around.


End:


Notes:
1. After many frustrated attempts in the 'Pumpkins preferred Eb MajorEb tuning, this was my
approach to capture the 'spirit of the song' with simple, practical chords in an Open
Tuning. There are obviously many variants.
2. Corgan wrote "1979" as the last of approximately 56 songs for this album. He
"...considers "1979" the most personally important song on Mellon Collie."

Other versions of 1979

Alternative guitar chords and tabs for 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins