COMMON PEOPLE by Pulp - Easy ukulele chords for beginners
Verse 1
[C]She came from Greece she had a thirst for knowledge
She studied sculpture at St. Martin’s College
That’s where [G]I… caught her eye
[C]She told me that her dad was loaded
I said "In that case I’ll have a rum and Coca-Cola
She said [G]‘Fine’… and then in thirty seconds time, she said
Chorus
[F]‘I want to live like common people
I want to do whatever common people [C]do
I wanna to sleep with common people
I wanna sleep with… common people like [G]you’
Well, what else could I do? … I said ‘Oh… I’ll see what I can do’
Verse 2
[C]I took her to a supermarket
I don’t know why but I had to start it some- [G]where… so it started… there
[C]I said ‘Pretend you’ve got no money’
She just laughed and said ‘Huh, you’re so funny’
I said, [G]‘Yeah… huh, well I can’t see anyone else smiling in here’
Chorus
Are you sure? [F]You want to live like common people
You want to see whatever common people [C]see
You want to sleep with common people
You want to sleep with… common people like [G]me
But she didn’t… understand… she just smiled and held my [C]hand
Bridge
Rent a [C]flat above a shop… cut you hair and get a job
Smoke some [G]fags and play some pool… pretend you never went to school
But still you’ll [C]never get it right… ‘cos when you’re laid in bed at night
Watching [G]roaches climb the wall… if you called your dad he could stop it all
Yeah
Chorus
[F]You’ll never live like common people
You’ll never do whatever common people [C]do
You’ll never fail like common people
You’ll never watch your life slide out of [G]view
And dance, and drink, and screw because there’s nothing else to [C]do
Instrumental (same strumming pattern as verses)
C C G G C C
G-G-G, G-G-G, G-G-G, G-G-G, G G G G, G-G-G-G-G-G-G-G
Chorus
[F]Sing along with the common people,
Sing along and it might just get you [C]through
Laugh along with the common people
Laugh along even though they are laughing at [G]you
And the stupid things that you do
Because you think that poor is [C]cool
Verse 3
[C] Like a dog lying in a corner, they will bite you and never warn you
look [G]out, they'll tear your insides out
[C]'Cos everybody hates a tourist especially one who thinks that it's all
Such a [G]laugh
and the chip stains and grease will come out in the bath
[F]You will never understand how it feels to live your life
With no [C]meaning or control and with nowhere left to go
You are [G]amazed that they exist and they burn so bright
Whilst you can only [C]wonder why
Bridge
Rent a [C]flat above a shop… cut you hair and get a job
Smoke some [G]fags and play some pool… pretend you never went to school
But still you’ll [C]never get it right… ‘cos when you’re laid in bed at night
Watching [G]roaches climb the wall… if you called your dad he could stop it all
Yeah
Chorus
[F]You’ll never live like common people
You’ll never do whatever common people [C]do
You’ll never fail like common people
You’ll never watch your life slide out of [G]view
And dance, and drink, and screw because there’s nothing else to [C]do
Outro
[C]I wanna live with… common people like you (repeat x6)
Oooh la-la-la-la, oooh la-la-la-la, oooh la-la-la-la, oh yeah
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The Story Behind the Song
The story behind Common People is unusually direct - because its writer, Jarvis Cocker, has been very open about the real-life moment that inspired it.
In the late 1980s, while studying film at Central Saint Martins in London, Cocker met a wealthy Greek art student. According to him, she told him she wanted to “live like common people” - to experience working-class life for its authenticity and grit. Cocker was struck by the casualness of the idea: for her, poverty was something you could dip into, then leave behind whenever it stopped being interesting.
That conversation stuck with him for years. It wasn’t until the mid-1990s, as Pulp were putting together their breakthrough album Different Class (1995), that he turned the memory into a song.