Keeping the Faith – Billy Joel Song Chord/Tab and Lyric

KEEPING THE FAITH – Billy Joel

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Transcribed by Dan Morris ([email protected])

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————|
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— verse —

If it seems like I've been lost in let's remember

If you think I'm feeling older and missing my younger days

Oh, then you should have known me much better

Cause my past is something that never

Got in my way oh no

Still I would not be here now if I never had the hunger

And I'm not ashamed to say the wild boys were my friends

Cause I never felt the desire 'til their music set me on fire

— chorus —

And then I was saved, yeah

that's why I'm keeping the faith

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

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 —

A permanent wave yeah
We were keeping the faith
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Keeping the faith

— bridge —

You can get just so much from a good thing

You can linger too long in your dreams

Say goodbye to the oldies but goodies

Cause the good old days weren't always good

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 —

You know the good old days weren't always good

And tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems

— last verse —

Now I told you my reasons for the whole revival
Now I'm going outside to have an ice cold beer in the shade

I'm going to listen to my 45's, ain't it wonderful to be alive

When the rock 'n' roll plays Yeah

When the memory stays Yeah

I'm keeping the faith

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Keeping the faith…

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Dan Morris
[email protected]
http://techhouse.brown.edu/dmorris

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