Chords
American Girl

American Girl is one of Tom Pettys most iconic songs, released with his band The Heartbreakers. According to some sources, Petty wrote the song inspired by the high energy of punk music, although it is not a punk song per se. There are rumors that the song was inspired by a college student who jumped from a window at the University of Florida, but Petty has denied this, stating it was more a song about longing than suicide.

Key: D

Introduction:  D   E7   E7   G   G   A   A   D   D   E7   E7   G   G   A7   A7  

difficulty
easy |||||
 D                 E7 
Well, she was an American girl
 G          A 
Raised on promises
 D                  E7 
She couldn' t help thinkin'  that there was a
 G                    A 
little more to life somewhere else

 A                   D 
After all it was a great big world
 G                       Em 
With lots of places to run to
 A 
And if she had to die tryin'  she had one little promise she was gonna keep

 G        A           D                    Bm 
O yeah, all right, take it easy, baby, make it last all night
 G        A            D 
She was an American girl

 D                   E7 
Well, it was kinda cold that night
 G                       A 
She stood alone on the balcony
 D                         E7 
Yeah, she could hear the cars roll by
        G               A 
Out on 441 like waves crashin'  on the beach

 A                      D 
And for one desperate moment there
 G                     Em 
He crept back in her memory
 A 
God it' s so painful when something that' s so close is still so far out of reach

 G        A           D                    Bm 
O yeah, all right, take it easy, baby, make it last all night
 G        A            D 
She was an American girl

 D  E7  G  A 
(Repeat to end)