This is a cool song from REM with lyrics about comedian Andy Kaufmann. Below is an accurate guitar chord chart that I created for my guitar lessons here in Vancouver. But before you play the song, let's learn a little about how the song was constructed.
There's lots of talk on the Internet about this song being in the Lydian Mode. I think that's largely true, but arguably that would be only the verses. The Lydian Mode is the fourth mode of the major scale. So C Lydian would have these chords:
C D Em F#dim G Am Bm
I II III IV V VI VII
Notice that in Lydian, the I and II chords are both major chords. Another way to think of Lydian is that it's related to the G major scale -- that C and D major chords would be the IV and V chords in G major. (And indeed, I would say that the chorus of the song is in G major since the G chord feels like resolve in that section.)
The verses of the song play with this Lydian sound by simply moving back and forth from C and D. In this case, they use a clever Dsus2/4 chord -- just to make it sound even less resolved than Lydian would already.
Here's how to play that fancy D chord (below). You can just think of it as your standard C chord shape but moved up two frets. The chord has both a sus2 and a sus4.
Dsus2/4: x53030
One extra tip for playing the song, have a listen to the chorus of the song so you can get the timing right. The D chord on the second-last line, "put a man..." is anticipated by an eighth note. Same with the Bm chord in the fourth line, over "nothing up his..."
Download a PDF of the guitar chord chart using this link, or just follow the chart directly from this page:
REM - Man On the Moon
INTRO: C D C C (repeat)
C Dsus2/4 C
Mott the Hoople and the game of Life (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Andy Kaufman in the wrestling match (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Monopoly, Twenty-one, Checkers, and Chess (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Mister Fred Blassie in a breakfast mess (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Let's play Twister, let's play Risk (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
See you in heaven if you make the list (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
CHORUS:
Am G
Now, Andy did you hear about this one?
Am G
Tell me, are you locked in the punch?
Am G / / C / / D
Andy are you goofing on Elvis? Hey baby, Are we losing touch?
G Am C D G Am D
If you believe they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
G Am C Bm Am
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool
VERSE 2:
C Dsus2/4 C
Moses went walking with the staff of wood (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Newton got beaned by the apple good (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Egypt was troubled by the horrible asp (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Mister Charles Darwin had the gall to ask (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
repeat CHORUS
SOLO: Em D Em D Em D D
VERSE 3:
C Dsus2/4 C
Here's a little agit for the never-believer (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Here's a little ghost for the offering (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Here's a truck stop instead of Saint Peter's (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
C Dsus2/4 C
Mister Andy Kaufman's gone wrestling (Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)
repeat CHORUS
SOLO: Em D Em D Em D D
OUTRO:
G Am C D G Am D
If you believe they put a man on the moon, man on the moon
G Am C Bm Am
If you believe there's nothing up his sleeve, then nothing is cool
-- repeat 2 more times --