Valami Amerika

Learning this song requires a little more practice and patience, especially for the introduction. Because the tempo is fairly fast, you also need to pay attention to rapid chord changes in the verses and choruses. None of that should discourage anyone, though: the result more than repays the sweaty minutes spent practising those changes.

The chords in Valami Amerika are Am, E, E-flat, D, Em7, F, G and C. Bon-Bon certainly did not skimp when putting this song together — it is no three-chord number. E-flat means an E lowered by a semitone, and the major chord built on that note is written the same way. We will see exactly what that means a few posts later when we get to the basics of music theory.

Important: if a chord has no further designation — just a letter such as F or C — it means a major chord. A minor chord (A minor in this song) is abbreviated with a lowercase “m”. Em7 is a particular form of Em, or E minor, and is pronounced “E minor seven”. We will discuss chords like this in a later post. Two different fingerings for D major are shown; the video explains why both are useful.

So here are the chords:

Now let us see how Valami Amerika is built from this set of chords:

Here are the original Hungarian lyrics with the chords:

Bon-Bon — Valami Amerika

intro: Am E Eb D

Am                       Em7       D
Rohan az életed, és rohan az út.
Am                       Em7       D
Elmarad mögötted lassan a múlt.
Am                                Em7      D
Nem tudod biztosan, hogy hova is mész,
Am                           Em7    D
De úgyis észreveszed, ha odaérsz.

F                                  D
A lényeg, hogy te vagy az első
                     Am
Mikor a többiek fékeznek, akkor is tövig
              G
Nyomod a gázt.

Mióta tudod:
F             C       G      Am
Mindig az a jó fiú, aki nyer.
F                        C            G      Am
Hát jól teszed, ha megteszed, amit kell.
F                       C           G      Am
Hidd el, hogy csak így lehet ez a hely
       F
A végén... valami Amerika!

solo

Lehet, hogy Te vagy, akit kedvel az ég.
Azt hiszed önmagában ez is elég,
Pedig az ösztönöd is kell ide majd,
És az a tűz ami mindig is hajt.
Hogy érezd: hogy te vagy az elsõ.

Mikor a többiek fékeznek, akkor is tövig
Nyomod a gázt.
Mióta tudod:

Mindig az a jó fiú, aki nyer.
Hát jól teszed, ha megteszed, amit kell.
Hidd el, hogy csak így lehet ez a hely
A végén... valami Amerika!

Valami Amerika!
Ó érezd, hogy te vagy az első.
Mikor a többiek fékeznek, akkor is tövig
Nyomod a gázt.

Mióta tudod:
Mindig az a jó fiú, aki nyer.
Hát jól teszed, ha megteszed, amit kell.
Hidd el, hogy csak így lehet ez a hely
A végén... valami Amerika!

I have not written out the chords all the way to the end; naturally you simply continue using the chord sequences for the verse, bridge and chorus. It helps enormously to listen to the song while following the lyrics and chords above and paying attention to exactly when each chord change occurs. When practising, the most important thing is for those changes to be accurate — both in timing and in clean fingering.

Practice suggestion: begin by practising the chord changes very slowly. Choose two consecutive chords and practise only those two, one after the other. Really, _only_ slowly and very patiently. Once the change is reliable and your fingers settle naturally into the next shape, gradually increase the tempo. If you find that your fingers are not “obeying” and do not reach the next chord accurately in space and time, immediately slow the chord change down again.