Changes by David Bowie

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 19 · Sections: 10

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

Key changes

• Chorus 1 moves to D major.
• Verse 1 moves to C major.
• Chorus 3 moves to D major.
• Verse 2 moves to C major.

Section by section

Intro

• Cmaj7 – D♭ – Dm7 – E♭ – F
  Imaj7 – bII – ii7 – bIII – IV

Chorus 1

• D – F (×2)
  I – bIII

Verse 1

• C – Em7 – F – G – F – C – Em7 – F
  I – iii7 – IV – V – IV – I – iii7 – IV
• G – C – Dm – Em – E♭m – Dm (×2)
  V – I – ii – iii – biii – ii
• G – F
  V – IV

Chorus 2

• C – Cmaj7/B – Am7 – C/G – F – Fmaj7/E – D – G – F – C – Cmaj7/B – Am7 – C/G – F – Fmaj7/E – D – Am7 – G – B♭ – F – Em – D – F/A – C
  I – Imaj⁴₂ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – IV – IVmaj⁴₂ – II – V – IV – I – Imaj⁴₂ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – IV – IVmaj⁴₂ – II – vi7 – V – bVII – IV – iii – II – IV⁶ – I

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Bridge

• F – C – F/C – C – F – G – F
  IV – I – IV⁶₄ – I – IV – V – IV

Chorus 5

• C – Cmaj7/B – Am7 – C/G – F – Fmaj7/E – D – G – F – C – Cmaj7/B – Am7 – C/G – F – Fmaj7/E – D – Am7 – G – B♭ – F – Em – D – F/A – C – Am7 – G – B♭ – F – Em – D – F/A
  I – Imaj⁴₂ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – IV – IVmaj⁴₂ – II – V – IV – I – Imaj⁴₂ – vi7 – I⁶₄ – IV – IVmaj⁴₂ – II – vi7 – V – bVII – IV – iii – II – IV⁶ – I – vi7 – V – bVII – IV – iii – II – IV⁶

Outro

• C – Dm – Em – E♭ – Dm – D♭ – C
  I – ii – iii – bIII – ii – bII – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Cmaj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	Intro
D♭	bII	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, Outro
Dm7	ii7	In the key	Intro
E♭	bIII	Borrowed from C minor	Intro, Outro
F	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge
D	I (in D major)	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus
F	bIII (in D major)	Borrowed from D minor	Chorus
C	I	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Outro
Em7	iii7	In the key	Verse
G	V	In the key	Verse, Chorus, Bridge
Dm	ii	In the key	Verse, Outro
Em	iii	In the key	Verse, Chorus, Outro
E♭m	biii	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse
Cmaj7/B	Imaj⁴₂	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus
Am7	vi7	In the key	Chorus
C/G	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus
Fmaj7/E	IVmaj⁴₂	In the key	Chorus
D	II	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Chorus
B♭	bVII	Borrowed from C minor	Chorus
F/A	IV⁶	In the key	Chorus
F/C	IV⁶₄	In the key	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• E♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• F (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• B♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• D acts as V/V: it resolves to G.

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 94% 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.