Blue Jean by David Bowie

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Interlude → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). 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

• C – G
  bVII – IV

Verse 1

• D – G
  I – IV
• D – C (×2)
  I – bVII
• G – A
  IV – V

Chorus 1

• F♯m – F♯m11 – A (×3)
  iii – iii11 – V
• F♯m – F♯m11
  iii – iii11

Transition 1

• C – G
  bVII – IV

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Interlude

• D
  I

Chorus 3

• F♯m – F♯m11 – A (×5)
  iii – iii11 – V
• F♯m – F♯m11
  iii – iii11

Outro

• C – G – C – A5 – E5
  bVII – IV – bVII – V5 – II5

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0818, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.