Hey, Jennifer, I've been playing this song for a good decade now, and I'll be damned if what I play matches Johnny Marr note for note. The chords, ostensibly, are F#, A, and B in the verse, and C#m, E, and F# in the chorus (the "You shut your mouth" bit). Played straight, it sounds horrendously wrong. But with the right rhythm, you can approach Johnny-ness.
I read in a "Guitar" magazine profile of Johnny five or six years ago that he actually played this song with his guitar tuned to an open E (that is, strumming all the open strings would be an E chord; so the strings were tuned, from lowest to highest, E-B-E-G#-B-E). It's a tuning that Bo Diddley used in many of his songs, and if you listen carefully, you'll notice the "Bo Diddley beat" lurking behind this mope-rock anthem (try playing the song to the rhythm of "Born to Hand Jive" from "Grease," and you'll get the picture. Anyway, on to the song.
The opening "riff" is just the F# chord (2nd fret position) with loads of reverb, another way to get that "wavy" feeling from just playing the one chord is to position your hand to play the F# as I've shown you above, except hammer on the first-finger barre on the 2nd fret to begin the riff (^ = downstroke. v = upstroke):
|F# ^ v ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ | do this twice; the second time the lead guitarist (on tour, Johnny) plays: E-----2-2-2-2-2-2-2 | (4/5\4) just before the rhythm guitarist (on tour, Craig Gannon) plays the next chords B-----2-2-2-2-2-2-2 | G-3---3-3-3-3-3-4-3 | D-4---4-4-4-4-2-2-2 | A-4---4-4-4-4-4-4-4 | E-0(h)2-2-2-2-2-2-2 |
so the chord sequence for the intro and verse is: |F#|F#|F#|A/B/|
How Soon Is Now ?
I am the son and the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar I am the son and heir
Of nothing in particular
You shut your mouth, how can you say
I go about things the wrong way ?
I am Human and I need to be loved |F#|F#|F#|A/B/| Just like everybody else does
I am the son and the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar I am the son and heir
Oh, of nothing in particular
You shut your mouth
You shut your mouth, how can you say
I go about things the wrong way ?
I am Human and I need to be loved |F#|F#|F#|A/B/| Just like everybody else does
There's a club if you'd like to go
You could meet somebody who really loves you
So you go, and you stand on your own
And you leave on your own
And you go home, and you cry |F#|F#|F#|A/B/| And you want to die
When you say it's gonna happen "now"
Well, when exactly do you mean?
See I've already waited too long
And all my hope is gone
You shut your mouth, how can you say
I go about things the wrong way ?
I am Human and I need to be loved |F#|F#|F#|A/B/| Just like everybody else does
