Three chords and the truth?

Mark Carlisle · Post by **Mark Carlisle** » 23 Sep 2016 2:20 pm

Lou Reed said "One chord is fine. Two chords is pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz."

A local band plays "Don't Fence Me In" and does a fine job with it. I sat in with them and asked if they knew the composer-they had no clue it was Cole Porter. They all thought Roy Rodgers wrote it.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 23 Sep 2016 6:09 pm

IMHO - if you [editorial you, nobody specifically intended] need someone to explain "three chords and the truth" to you, no amount of explanation by anybody will ever convey the idea.

I am definitely an advocate of reharmonization and messing around with tunes. People been doing it for many decades, and will continue to do it for many more. But IMHO - the exemplar in the OP is exactly the antithesis of three chords and the truth. YMMV, no problem - again, just IMHO.

John Booth · Post by **John Booth** » 23 Sep 2016 6:28 pm

People gave George Jones 3 chords and he always gave you the truth.

Warren Cohran · Post by **Warren Cohran** » 10 Oct 2016 8:19 am

To me that destroys the feeling of the Jim Reeves version .just to be plain it sounds Awful