Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 16

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 (0:06)

• A – F♯m
  I – vi

Part 2 (0:12)

• E – D – A – F♯m
  V – IV – I – vi

Part 3 (0:23)

• E – D – A – E
  V – IV – I – V

Part 4 (0:35)

• F♯m – D – A – E
  vi – IV – I – V

Part 5 (0:47)

• D – A – F♯m
  IV – I – vi

Part 6 (0:58)

• E – D – A
  V – IV – I

Part 7 (1:10)

• F♯m – E – D – A
  vi – V – IV – I

Part 8 (1:22)

• E – F♯m – D – A
  V – vi – IV – I

Part 9 (1:33)

• E – D – A – F♯m – E
  V – IV – I – vi – V

Part 10 (1:45)

• A – D – A – E – F♯m – G
  I – IV – I – V – vi – bVII

Part 11 (1:57)

• D – A – E – E7 – A
  IV – I – V – V7 – I

Part 12 (2:08)

Same chords as Part 8 (1:22).

Part 13 (2:20)

Same chords as Part 6 (0:58).

Part 14 (2:32)

Same chords as Part 8 (1:22).

Part 15 (2:44)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:23).

Part 16 (2:55)

• A – E – A
  I – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Poems Prayers Promises), 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 (Poems Prayers Promises), 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.