Love For Sale

Words & Music by Cole Porter, 1930
Recorded by Billie Holiday, 1945
Previously recorded by Libby Holman, 1932 (#5)

D     D6     Am   Am9  D              D6        Am    Am9   Am
Love---- for sale,      advertising love for sale.

D                      G7
Love that's fresh and still unspoiled,

C                  Bb              E7  Bm7-5  E7      Am
Love that's only slightly soiled. Love---------- for sale.


D     D6     Am  Am9  D                   D6       Am      Am9  Am
Who---- will buy?     Who would like to sample my supply?

D                  G7
Who's prepared to pay the price

C             Bb           E7  Bm7-5  E7      Am
For a trip to paradise?  Love----------- for sale.


Bridge:

F6             G7          C                 C9
Let the poets pipe of love in their childish way;

F6             G7          C               C9
I know ev'ry type of love better far than they.

A7              Gdim       A7
If you want the thrill of love, 

 Dm         Bm7-5     Dm6       Am
I've been through the mill of love--

F    Dm6  Cdim  B7  Bb7            Edim  A7
Old love, new love, ev'ry love but true  love.


D    D6      Am   Am9  D            D6        Am   Am9
Love---- for sale,      advertising love for sale.

D              G7
If you want to buy my wares,

C             Bb                E7   Bm7-5  E7      Am   Am7/G
Follow me and climb the stairs. Love---------- for sale.

Bm7-5  Dm6  E7        Am   Am+7    Am7   Am6   F7   E7   Am
Love------------ for sale.


Although bland by today's standards, this song was really pushing the limits of taste and decency when it first appeared -- so much so that it got banned in a lot of places. Since then, however, it's been recorded over 500 times, including an instrumental version by Ramsey Lewis in 1959 that I'm also partial to.


 
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.