Country Road by James Taylor

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 10

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

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

• D – C/D – G/D – D – C – G – D
  I – bVII (bass D) – IV⁶₄ – I – bVII – IV – I

Verse 1

• D – C/D – G/D – D – C/D – D
  I – bVII (bass D) – IV⁶₄ – I – bVII (bass D) – I
• Em7 – A7 (×3)
  ii7 – V7
• Bm – C/D
  vi – bVII (bass D)

Chorus 1

• D – C/D – G – D – C/D – D
  I – bVII (bass D) – IV – I – bVII (bass D) – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• F/D – G – D – C – C/B – C/A
  bIII (bass D) – IV – I – bVII – bVII (bass B) – bVII (bass A)

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• D – C/D (×2)
  I – bVII (bass D)
• G – D – C/D (×7)
  IV – I – bVII (bass D)
• G
  IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C/D (bVII (bass D)) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• F/D (bIII (bass D)) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C/A (bVII (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0901, 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.