E         E        D/E        D/E
E         E

[Verse 1]
E                   E
  He gets away with being rude
       D                        A                           E          E
'cause everyone's scared of his quicksilver moods, the soul singer.
E                      E
  He's been around for fifty years,
      D                       A                  E          E
every crease of his face is a souvenir, the soul singer.

[Bridge 1]
B7                  B7
  He's seen it all,   made every move,
A                            A
  dude's got next to nothin' left to prove.
B7                    B7
  Climbed to the top,   been through the wringer,
B7                      B7
  ladies and gentlemen:   the soul singer!

[Verse 2]
E                   E
  Likes to grumble, lovеs to scoff
      D                   A                        E          E
about all of the cats who ripped him off, the soul singеr.
E              E
  His all time favourite song
       D                 A                              E          E
is the one about how the world done him wrong, the soul singer.

[Bridge 2]
B7                        B7
They call him curmudgeon,   say he's a churl,
A                               A
  stories follow him 'round the world;
B7                    B7
  hear this one, man,   a humdinger!
B7                      B7
  Ladies and gentlemen:   the soul singer!

[Verse 3]
E                  E
Experts gather wherever he goes
    D                  A                            E          E
but what's in his mind none of them knows, the soul singer.
E                  E
  He's done crazy, he's suffered loss,
        D                       A                       E          E
for the life that he lives he's paid the cost, the soul singer.

[Bridge 3]
B7                          B7
Some say he's the bomb, the very bee's knees,
A                    A
  poet prince of the high trapeze;
B7                B7
  the jazzmatazz,   the king swinger.
B7                      B7
  Ladies and gentleman:   the soul singer!

[Interlude]
E        E        D        A
E        E
E        E        D        A
E        E

[Bridge 4]
B7                       B7
  Spent the best part of three decades,
A                  A
  brooding under a pair of shades.
B7                       B7
  Who's that masked man?   No second stringer.
B7                      B7
  Ladies and gentlemen:   the soul singer!

[Verse 4]
E                 E
  Plays his cards close to his chest,
   D                   A                           E          E
protecting himself the way he knows best, the soul singer.
E                    E
  Deals out only the canniest part
       D                        A                           E          E
of the sweet golden music that lives in his heart. The soul singer.

[Bridge 5]
B7                     B7
  The great recordings   still remain
A                            A
  from when his genius was uncontained.
B7                         B7
  He's in there somewhere,   that old gunslinger.
B7                      B7
  Ladies and gentleman,   the soul singer!

[Outro 1]
E             E           D           A                     E         E
  La-la-la-la la-la-la-la La-la-la-la la-la-la-la. The soul singer.
E             E           D           A                     E         E
  La-la-la-la la-la-la-la La-la-la-la la-la-la-la. The soul singer.

[Outro 2] (Repeat and Fade Out)
Trumpets
E        E        D        A
E        E