If I Had My Way

Words & Music by Lou Klein & James Kendis, 1913
Recorded by The Mills Brothers*, 1931


   A        F#m           D9           E7
If I had my way, Dear, forever there'd be

   A        F#m       D9          E7
A garden of roses for you and for me;

   A           C#7               D Cdim  A
A thousand and one things, Dear, I would do

F#7      B7  Cdim Fdim E7
Just for you, on - ly you.


   A        F#m           D9          E7
If I had my way, we would never grow old

    A            C#7          D   F#m  Bm7
And sunshine I'd bring ev'ry day;

           D          B7  Cdim Bm7-5
You would reign all alone like   a 

  A   G#7 C#m7-5  F#7
Queen on    a   throne,

Bm7-5 F#7 D9 E7/6 A
  If   I  had my way.

*This one has been recorded by other artists, who may well have had bigger hits with it (Bing Crosby's even had sheet music with it) and others whose versions are more complete (such as Frank Sinatra's, which included one of the two intro verses, both of which were omitted on the Mills Brothers' version.) But the Mills Brothers place the spotlight on the harmony structure of this somewhat "barbershoppy" waltz and it's that harmony that sold me on this song.

The lyric and guitar chord transcriptions on this site are the work of The Guitarguy and are intended for private study, research, or educational purposes only. Individual transcriptions are inspired by and and based upon the recorded versions cited, but are not necessarily exact replications of those recorded versions.