Buy for Me the Rain by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Transition → Verse → Transition → Verse → Transition → Verse → Transition → Verse → Transition → Interlude

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

• Csus2 – B♭69 – F/A – F
  Isus2 – bVII69 – IV⁶ – IV

Transition 1

• C – B♭69 (×2)
  I – bVII69

Verse 1

• C – B♭69 (×3)
  I – bVII69
• C – Gm11/B♭ – F – G7 – C – B♭69 – F – B♭69
  I – v11 (bass B♭) – IV – V7 – I – bVII69 – IV – bVII69

Transition 2

• C – Gm7 (×2)
  I – v7

Verse 2

• C – B♭69 – C – Gm7
  I – bVII69 – I – v7
• C – B♭69 (×2)
  I – bVII69
• F – G7 – C – B♭69 – F – B♭69
  IV – V7 – I – bVII69 – IV – bVII69

Transition 3

Same chords as Transition 2.

Verse 3

• C – B♭69 (×4)
  I – bVII69
• F – G7 – C – B♭69 – F – B♭69
  IV – V7 – I – bVII69 – IV – bVII69

Transition 4

Same chords as Transition 2.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 3.

Transition 5

Same chords as Transition 2.

Interlude

• C – B♭69 (×2)
  I – bVII69
• F – G7 – C – B♭69 – F – Gm6 – Gm7 – C
  IV – V7 – I – bVII69 – IV – v6 – v7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭69 (bVII69) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Gm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0088, 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.