Cotton Fields by Creedence Clearwater Revival - Piano Chords, Voicings & Structure Breakdown

Harmonic Analysis & Structure

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 14

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:01)

A – D – E
I – IV – V

Part 2 (0:06)

A – D – A – E7
I – IV – I – V7

Part 3 (0:19)

A – D – A – E7 – A
I – IV – I – V7 – I

Part 4 (0:33)

D – A – E7
IV – I – V7

Part 5 (0:46)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:19).

Part 6 (0:59)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:33).

Part 7 (1:12)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:19).

Part 8 (1:25)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:33).

Part 9 (1:38)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:19).

Part 10 (1:51)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:33).

Part 11 (2:04)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:19).

Part 12 (2:18)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:33).

Part 13 (2:31)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:19).

Part 14 (2:44)

E7 – A
V7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14
D	IV	In the key	Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13
E	V	In the key	Part 1
E7	V7	In the key	Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14

Sources & accuracy

Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Willy And The Poor Boys), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Willy And The Poor Boys), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
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.

Sources & Accuracy

Every chord on this page comes from the expert transcription listed first below. Piano voicings are our arrangement of the reported chord symbols, not a note-for-note transcription.

the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University)Expert transcription
Annotated from the original recording by trained musicians for a published research dataset.
Chord annotation of the original recording (Willy And The Poor Boys), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.

All Piano Voicings

#	Section	Chord	Left hand	Right hand	Sources
1	Part 1 (0:01)	A	A2, E3	C♯4, E4, A4	—
2	Part 1 (0:01)	D	D2, A2	D4, F♯4, A4	—
3	Part 1 (0:01)	E	E2, B2	B3, E4, G♯4	—
4	Part 2 (0:06)	A	A2, E3	C♯4, E4, A4	—
5	Part 2 (0:06)	D	D2, A2	D4, F♯4, A4	—
6	Part 2 (0:06)	A	A2, E3	C♯4, E4, A4	—
7	Part 2 (0:06)	E7	E2, B2	B3, D4, G♯4	—
8	Part 3 (0:19)	A	A2, E3	C♯4, E4, A4	—
9	Part 3 (0:19)	D	D2, A2	D4, F♯4, A4	—
10	Part 3 (0:19)	A	A2, E3	C♯4, E4, A4	—
11	Part 3 (0:19)	E7	E2, B2	B3, D4, G♯4	—
12	Part 3 (0:19)	A	A2, E3	C♯4, E4, A4	—
13	Part 4 (0:33)	D	D2, A2	D4, F♯4, A4	—
14	Part 4 (0:33)	A	A2, E3	C♯4, E4, A4	—
15	Part 4 (0:33)	E7	E2, B2	B3, D4, G♯4	—
16	Part 14 (2:44)	E7	E2, B2	B3, D4, G♯4	—
17	Part 14 (2:44)	A	A2, E3	C♯4, E4, A4	—