Dancing in the Street by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 5

Form: Chorus → Bridge → Chorus → Bridge → 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

Chorus 1

• E7 – A – E7
  I7 – IV – I7

Bridge 1

• G♯ – C♯m – F♯m – E/B – B
  III – vi – ii – I⁶₄ – V

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Outro

• E7
  I7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E7	I7	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	Chorus, Outro
A	IV	In the key	Chorus
G♯	III	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	Bridge
C♯m	vi	In the key	Bridge
F♯m	ii	In the key	Bridge
E/B	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Bridge
B	V	In the key	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• E7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to A.
• G♯ acts as V/vi: it resolves to C♯m.

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 98% 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.