California Dreamin' by The Mamas & the Papas

Overview

Key: C♯ minor · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → 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

• G♯sus4
  Vsus4

Verse 1

• C♯m – B – A – B – G♯sus4 – G♯ – A – E – G♯ – C♯m – A – G♯sus4 – G♯
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII – Vsus4 – V – bVI – bIII – V – i – bVI – Vsus4 – V

Chorus 1

• C♯m – B – A – B – G♯sus4 – G♯ – C♯m – B – A – B – G♯sus4
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII – Vsus4 – V – i – bVII – bVI – bVII – Vsus4

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 1

• C♯m – A – E – G♯ – C♯m – A – G♯sus4 – G♯
  i – bVI – bIII – V – i – bVI – Vsus4 – V

Bridge 2

• C♯m – B – A – B – G♯sus4 – G♯ (×2)
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII – Vsus4 – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

• C♯m – B – A – B – G♯sus4 – G♯
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII – Vsus4 – V

Outro

• C♯m – B – A – B (×3)
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII
• A – C♯m
  bVI – i

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G♯sus4	Vsus4	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge
C♯m	i	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Outro
B	bVII	In the key	Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Outro
A	bVI	In the key	Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Outro
G♯	V	In the key	Verse, Chorus, Bridge
E	bIII	In the key	Verse, Bridge

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.