Forever Young

Written by 
Bob Dylan
Released on 
Planet Waves (1974), At Budokan (1978), Biograph (1985), Side Tracks (2013), Greatest Hits, vol. 3 (1994) and Shadow Kingdom (2021)
Tabbed by 
Eyolf Østrem

Album version I (slow):

D

        D
May God bless and keep you always
         F#m/c#
May your wishes all come true
        Em/b
May you always do for others
        G             D
And let others do for you
        D
May you build a ladder to the stars
    F#m/c#
And climb on every rung
        Em   A(sus4-A) D
May you stay    forever young
        A         Bm
Forever young, forever young
        D   A        D
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

Album version II (fast):

G(/f#-g)

        G
May God bless and keep you always
         C               G
May your wishes all come true
        G
May you always do for others
        D
And let others do for you
        G
May you build a ladder to the stars
    C
And climb on every rung
        G    D         G      C
May you stay   forever young
        G    D         G
May you stay   forever young.

Biograph version

The guitar is tuned low, almost a half tone.
The strumming is very square, something like this (with sample embellishment included, with no extra cost)

                                    Last bar:
  :       .       .       .
|-----3-------3-------3-------3---||-----0---------------
|-----0-------0-------0h1-----0---||-----1---------------
|-----0-------0-------0-------0---||-----0-------0------- etc
|-----0-------0-------0h2-----0---||-----2-------0-------
|---------------------------------||-3-------2---0-------
|-3-------3-------3-------3-------||-----------------3---

        G
May God bless and keep you always
         C               G      C/g G
May your wishes all come true
        G
May you always do for others
        D      /c     D                [D/c=x3023x;
And let others do for you              played A7  D  in subsequent verses]
        G
May you build a ladder to the stars
    C        /b    Am
And climb on every rung
        G    D         G      C/g
May you stay   forever young
        G    D         C     /b /a G
May you stay   forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young.

Budokan version

Capo 5th fret (sounding key F major)

        C
May God bless and keep you always
         Em
May your wishes all come true
        F
May you always do for others
        G                C
And let others do for you
        C
May you build a ladder to the stars
    Em
And climb on every rung
        F    G         C      Csus4 C
May you stay   forever young
        G
Forever young
        Am
Forever young
        C   G        F    C
May you stay forever young

Shadow Kingdom version

There is an e sounding in most of the chords, so both the D and G chords could/should be played with an open e string. In both these chords, the figure d-e-d is central, so even the G should be played with the d on the second string (see chord charts).

I’ve indicated the beats with dots, to illustrate the difference between the slow descent at “stay” and the double-speed interlude.

Chords:

A/c#      x42220
Dadd9     xx0230
G6        320030

        
D . . . A/c# . . . G/b . . . G6 . . . 
        D(add9)            A/c#
May God bless and keep you always
         G/b                  G6
May your wishes all come true
D                            A/c#
 May you always do for others
               G/b           A
And let others do for you
        G                     A
May you build a ladder to the stars
    D        (/f#) G6
And climb on every rung
            D . . . A/c# . . . G/b . . .  A
And may you stay  
        D
Forever young

Bm . A . | G . D/a A | D

 

 

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