May32022

Kurt Vile – Cool Water Chords on Piano & Ukulele

Updated January 8, 2026

ChordsE B F#

KeyKeyCapo

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These are the chords for Cool Water by Kurt Vile on Piano, Ukulele, Guitar, and Keyboard

[Intro]
E B F# E x6

[Verse 1]
 E                    B
Hey, where you goin’ now?
               F#
Are you goin’ home?
           E
Where is that at, baby?
E             B
I, I been thinkin’
          F#
I been drinkin’
         E
I been dyin’ and craving some

[Chorus]
  B  F# E
Cool water
 F# E B E
Cool water
           B   F# E
Just like Hank sang
F# E B E
Hank sang

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[Interlude]
E B F# E   x2

[Verse 2]
  E              B
Wait, wait your turn
                  F#         E
And do ya got something to burn?
        E                B
‘Cause now, now is the time
      F#             E
To smoke ’em if you got ’em
     E                 B
But when, when you’re done
            F#
Bite your tongue and put
          E
out the cherry with some

[Chorus]
 B    F# E
Cool water
 F# E B E
Cool water
           B   F# E
Just like Hank sang
F# E B E
Hank sang
E B
F#              E
But a son of a pioneer wrote
E B F# E x3

Feel free to use our free Chord Shape Generator to see every chord in this song on guitar, ukulele and piano.

[Verse 3]
 E                    B
Hey, where you going now?
               F#
Are you goin’ home?
           E
Where is that at, baby?
       E            B
‘Cause I, I been thinkin’
              F#
And I been drinkin’
       E
For a while
      E           B
But when you’re done
            F#         E
bite your tongue and
       E               B
‘Cause now I could use some,
                  F#   E
we all could use some

[Chorus]
 B    F# E
Cool water
F# E B E
Cool water
           B   F# E
Just like Hank sang
F# E B E
Hank sang
E B
F#          E             E
But a one Marty Robbins slayed
          B        F#      E
with the brothers Glaser

[Outro]
E B F# E x3
E

How to play Cool Water: key, chords and progression

Cool Water by Kurt Vile is in the key of B major (five sharps: F♯, C♯, G♯, D♯, A♯). The song uses 3 chords: E, B and F#.

The progression the song keeps returning to is E – B – F# – E (IV – I – V – IV in B major). In solfa, that is fah – doh – soh – fah. Learn these 4 changes first and most of the song falls into place.

Easier on guitar: put a capo on the 2nd fret and play the shapes D, A, E (100% of the chords become easy open shapes, against 33% without a capo). It sounds exactly the same.