Burning Down the House by Talking Heads

Overview

Key: D minor · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Instrumental → Chorus → Verse → Instrumental → Instrumental → Instrumental

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

• Dm
  i

Chorus 1

• G – F (×3)
  IV – bIII
• G – A – F
  IV – V – bIII

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 1

• Gsus4 – Fsus4 (×4)
  IVsus4 – bIIIsus4

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Instrumental 1

• G – F (×3)
  IV – bIII
• G – A – F
  IV – V – bIII

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Instrumental 2

• G5 – F5 (×3)
  IV5 – bIII5
• G5 – A5 – F5
  IV5 – V5 – bIII5

Instrumental 3

• Gsus4 – Fsus4 (×4)
  IVsus4 – bIIIsus4

Instrumental 4

Same chords as Instrumental 3.

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, D major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0844, 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.