A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 15 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse ×2 → Bridge → Verse → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

• B♭ – F/A – Gm – B♭/F – Cm7/E♭ – G7/D – Cm – Gm/B♭ – A♭7 – G7 – F
  I – V⁶ – vi – I⁶₄ – ii⁶₅ – VI⁴₃ – ii – vi⁶ – bVII7 – VI7 – V

Verse 1

• B♭ – Cm – Gm – B♭ – Cm – E♭ – D7 – Gm – B♭
  I – ii – vi – I – ii – IV – III7 – vi – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge

• Cm – B♭
  ii – I
• Cm – Gm (×2)
  ii – vi
• C – F7
  II – V7

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• B♭
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
B♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Bridge, Outro
F/A	V⁶	In the key	Intro
Gm	vi	In the key	Intro, Verse, Bridge
B♭/F	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Intro
Cm7/E♭	ii⁶₅	In the key	Intro
G7/D	VI⁴₃	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	Intro
Cm	ii	In the key	Intro, Verse, Bridge
Gm/B♭	vi⁶	In the key	Intro
A♭7	bVII7	Borrowed from B♭ minor	Intro
G7	VI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro
F	V	In the key	Intro
E♭	IV	In the key	Verse
D7	III7	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	Verse
C	II	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Bridge
F7	V7	In the key	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• A♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• G7/D acts as V/ii: it resolves to Cm.
• D7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Gm.
• C acts as V/V: it resolves to F7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 100% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.