I am grateful to the songwriters who have done so many amazing things with three (or fewer!) chords.  These songs are a great boon to the beginning ukulele player, and treasured companions to players of all levels.  Narrowing the plot further to the chords I, IV and V (in the key of C, these are the chords C, F and G or G7), I wonder at the varied and beautiful melodies that this small garden has grown.  Take, for example, three from the list of my favorites: “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness”, “The Last Thing on My Mind”, and “I Still Miss Someone”.  One measure of their greatness is how many artists have compellingly covered them.  A strummer who doesn’t know one of these songs by heart can figure them out even if – like me – they don’t have a good ear for picking out chords.  They almost always start with the I chord.  And then for the first chord change there are only two possibilities!  They end with the I chord also, usually preceded by the V (or V7).  The flip side of being easy to figure out is that these songs are mostly predictable melodically, some might say uninteresting.  I won’t argue with the some who might say this, but instead say that I happen to like – love, actually – many of these simple songs and sidestep any debate by quoting Wallace Stevens’ “Table Talk”.  Another thing that makes me love the three-chord songs on my list is their way with words, and the way they use these words to paint pictures and tell stories.  David Sedaris says that he copies out passages from George Saunders stories because “he wants his fingers to know what greatness feels like”.  Something similar could be said to justify singing these songs over and over again (although I can’t quite figure out how to word it).  My three-chord songwriting hero (and my hero in general) is John Prine.  You may know some of his songs without knowing that they are his (or even knowing of him): “Angel from Montgomery” as sung by Bonnie Raitt, or “I Remember Everything” as sung by Brandi Carlisle.  Both of these use more than three chords, but his three-chord repertoire is vast, varied and exuberant, witty and wise.  Some that I play regularly include the aforementioned “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness”, “Paradise”, “Donald and Lydia”, “Dear Abby”, “Bruised Orange” and “Spanish Pipedream”.  A website called “The John Prine Shrine” is the best source for lyrics and chords.