As played at Royal Albert Hall (24/3/2014)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WJNZB0Dyuw
Basically you can repeat the following nearly through the whole song:
[Dm] [Dm] [Bb] [C] [A7/C#]
[Dm] [Bb] [C] [A7/C#] [A] [A] *
e|----(5)----(1)----(3)------0--------0--------x---5----------------|
B|-----6------3------5------(5)------(5)-------x---5----------------|
G|-----7------3------5-------5---or---6--------2---6----------------|
D|-----7------3------5-------5--------5--------2---7----------------|
A|-----5------1------3-------4--------4--------0---7----------------|
E|-----x------x------x-------x--------x--------0---5----------------|
I think when Ed Sheeran strums he mostly uses the A,D,G strings only and when he picks the A,G,B strings.
Verse 1
[Dm]
I'm not a rapper, I'm a singer with a flow
I've got a habit of spitting
quicker lyrics you know
[Bb]
You found me ripping the writtens
out of the pages they sit in
[C]
And never once I get bitten,
[A7/C#]
cause plagiarism is hidden
[Dm]
Which I would sit on the rhythm,
prisoner with a vision
Signs of a label, but didn't listen to any criticism
[Bb]
Thought you knew but you didn't
Perk your ears up and listen
[C]
Studio with a system
[A7/C#]
And you could say that I'm driven
[Dm]
And now it's on to the next saga,
we drink the best lager
I never tried to win you over
like your stepfather
[Bb]
I do my own thing now, and get respect after
[C] [A7/C#]
And I'm avoiding cocaine like it was Get Carter
[Dm]
For four years I never had a place to stay
but it's safe to say that it kept me grounded like a paperweight
[Bb]
At 16 years old yeah I moved out of my home
[C] [A7/C#]
I was Macy Gray I tried to say goodbye and
I choked
[Dm]
And we've been sleeping at the subway station, sleeping with a movie star and adding to the population
[Bb]
Not my imagination, I don't want to relax
[A]
But would it hurt your reputation,
[A] *
if I put it on wax?
I take it back now
Chorus
[Dm]
Mmh Mmh Mmh Mmh
[Bb]
Come on and take it back now
[C] [A7/C#] [Dm]
Come on and take it back for us
[Dm] [Bb]
Don't you fade into the back love,
[C] [A7/C#]
nooooohh
Verse 2
[Dm]
Take it back with the rhythm and blues
and my rap pack I'll be singing the news,
trying to act like Jack Black when I repeat the school
[Bb]
I'll make a beat with my feet by just singing a loop,
[C] [A7/C#]
bringing the lyrics to prove that I can fit in these shoes
[Dm]
And keeping the truth through the vocal booth,
stars burst out on the scene like an opal fruit,
[Bb]
they try to take aim like beckham when he goes to shoot,
[C]
but then again that's what they're supposed to do,
[A7/C#]
and I'm supposed to be calm,
[Dm]
I tattooed the lyrics onto my arm, whispering everything that happens is from now on,
[Bb]
I'll be willing to start again by the end of the song,
[C] [A7/C#]
still they're claiming that I handled it wrong,
[Dm]
but then I never had an enemy, except the NME,
but I'll be selling twice as many copies as the magazines will ever be,
[Bb]
with only spectacles ahead of me on festival fees,
[C] [A7/C#]
healthier than a Dalmatian, no pedigree,
[Dm]
singing for the masses,
rubber dinghy rapids,
I keep this rapping a habit
and keep on passioning magic,
[Bb]
I'm battling with respect,
[C]
I don't know if I'll have it,
[A]
this songs from the heart,
cover the plaque
I'll take it back now
Chorus
[Dm]
Mmh Mmh
[Bb]
Come on and take it back now
[C] [A7/C#] [Dm]
Come on and take it back for us
[Dm] [Bb]
Don't you fade into the back love,
[C] [A7/C#]
nooooohh
[Verse 3] (Pick here! Use A,G,B strings and second version of A/C#)
Take it back now
[Dm]
I don't ever wanna be perfect,
Cause I'm a singer that you
never wanna see shirtless
[Bb]
I accept the fact that someone's got to win worst-dressed,
[C] [A7/C#]
Taking my first steps into the scene,
giving me focus
[Dm]
Putting on a brave face, like Timothy Dalton
Considering a name change,
thinking it was hopeless
[Bb]
Rhyming over recordings,
avoiding tradition
[C]
Cause everyday some lyrics
[A7/C#]
and a melody can be written
[Dm]
Now absence can make your heart break
But drinking absinthe can change your mind-state, vividly,
I need to let my liver be
[Bb]
And I say it again,
[C]
Living life on the edge,
[A7/C#]
with a closed hand full of friends
Is good advice from a man
[Dm]
who took his life on the road with me
and I hope to see him blowing up globally
[Bb]
Cause that's how it's supposed to be
screaming out vocally
[C]
It might seem totally impossible
[A7/C#]
achieving life's dreams
[Dm]
But, but I just write schemes
I'm never having a stylist, giving me tight jeans
[Bb]
Madison Square Garden is where I might be
But more likely,
[C]
You'll find me in the back
[A7/C#]
room of a dive bar with my mates
[Dm]
Having a pint with McDaid
Discussing records we made
And every single second knowing
that we'll never betray
[Bb]
The way we were raised
Remembering our background
Sat down
[C]
That's how we put it out
[A7/C#]
It's time to take it back now
Chorus
[Dm]
Mmh Mmh Mmh Mmh
[Bb]
Come on and take it back now
[C] [A7/C#] [Dm]
Come on and take it back for us
[Dm] [Bb]
Don't you fade into the back love,
[C] [A7/C#]
nooooohh uuuuuuuhh
[Dm]
Mmh Mmh Mmh Mmh
[Bb]
Come on and take it back now
[C] [A7/C#] [Dm]
Come on and take it back for us
[Dm] [Bb]
Don't you fade into the back love,
[C] [A7/C#]
nooooohh
[Verse 4] (Strum every chord only once here!)
[Dm]
My dreams keep me awake at night
[Dm]
written in rhymes, and I, deliver the hype am I
just living the lie
[Bb]
with this you must know that the number's just sold woah
[C] [A7/C#]
Will keep me going through the tough times, dream with me
[Dm]
We forget 90 percent of it when we wake
[Dm]
But the other 10 per cent it never fades
[Bb]
Dreaming dreams, day to day goals,
[C]
Stay awake loads, try to make the cut like the
[A7/C#]
paper or razor blade, oh, never give up
[Dm]
And just remember just to hold out more
[Dm]
Couple years ago
I couldn't just control that thought
[Bb]
You'd find me buskin' on the street
When it was cold outdoors
[C]
And now I'm sweating on the stage
[A7/C#]
of a sold out tour
[Dm]
Writing love songs for the sake of it,
never to make a hit
[Dm]
You can't fake talent and work ethic just to make it quick
[Bb]
I'm not a rapper I'm a singer, I just take the piss and
[C] [A7/C#]
Most the other guys are kids that pose his little sister
[Dm]
has to babysit, that's just a way it is
[Dm]
Dreams you own, just set your goals
and have the utmost faith in it
[Bb]
Tread your own path, you'll never make it as a follower,
[C] [A7/C#]
you'll never know where you will go or where you'll be tomorrow
