May52022

Kurt Vile – Jesus On A Wire Chords on Piano & Ukulele

Updated January 8, 2026

ChordsD C Am G

KeyKeyCapo

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These are the chords for Jesus On A Wire by Kurt Vile on Piano, Ukulele, Guitar, and Keyboard

[Verse 1]
D             C
Jesus on the phone
           D                C
Talking ’bout a nervous breakdown
      D         C
Even he don’t know
          D              C
How to bail us out of this one
      Am
“What a mess!” I sing to myself
C                      G
Thinkin’ ’bout another song
Am
I wanna reach out to old Jesus
C                      D
Tell him I, too, feel alone
C        D
And I’m here to save ya

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[Verse 2]
D             C
Jesus on a wire
           D                C
And he’s lookin’ very tired
          D              C
And me, I don’t blame him
          D              C
And I almost want to claim him
    Am
So I ring a couple chords out
C                      G
On my Martin Double O
     Am
And I see them floating upward
C                      D
And I watch ’em as they go
           C           D
Into the pockets of Judas
Iscariot in the sky
   C           D
Up through the cracks
in the ceiling

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

[Verse 3]
D             C
Jesus on the edge
      D                C
And I feel the same way lately
              D                C
And he hammers down some numbers
        D                C
And it shakes the sky like thunder
    Am                    C
I saw him risin’ o’er the horizon
               G
And I saw him fall
Am
When the scene dissipated
    C                      D
And the world just waited and waited
C           D
For a return

How to play Jesus On A Wire: key, chords and progression

Jesus On A Wire by Kurt Vile is in the key of G major (one sharp: F♯). The song uses 4 chords: D, C, Am and G.

The progression the song keeps returning to is C – D – C – Am (IV – V – IV – ii in G major). In solfa, that is fah – soh – fah – reh. Learn these 4 changes first and most of the song falls into place.

Beginner-friendly: every chord is an open chord on guitar, so you can play it without a capo or barre chords.