PianoChords.studio

For the Sake of the Song by Townes Van Zandt

Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 14 steps · 4 unique chords

Community chart. These chords come from a chart a musician wrote and shared on the iReal Pro forums, not from a transcription checked against the recording. Charts are sometimes written in a different key or simplified, and no second chart of this song agreed closely enough to mark this page verified. Trust your ears.
A Section, part 1 (×2)Step 1 of 14

C

LeftC2, G2RightC4, E4, G4
C2G2C4E4G4
Left hand Right hand Middle C (C4)

No source cited for this step

Harmonic Analysis & Structure

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 4

Form: A Section → B Section → C Section → D Section

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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

A Section

  • C – F (×2)
    I – IV
  • C
    I

B Section

  • G – C (×2)
    V – I
  • C7
    I7

C Section

  • F – C – F – G (×2)
    IV – I – IV – V

D Section

  • F
    IV
  • C – G (×2)
    I – V
  • C
    I

Chord vocabulary

ChordRoman numeralRoleHeard in
CIHome chord (tonic)A Section, B Section, C Section, D Section
FIVIn the keyA Section, C Section, D Section
GVIn the keyB Section, C Section, D Section
C7I7Outside the key (chromatic)B Section

Sources & accuracy

  • Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “For The Sake Of The Song - Flinner” (credited “Townes Van Zandt”, style Pop - Country) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
  • Section names: the chart has no section markings, so sections were detected by code from repeated 8-, 12- and 16-bar phrases (letters such as A and B mark different phrases).
  • Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
  • About the song: Wikipedia.
  • Not verified: only one chart of this song is available, so it hasn't been cross-checked.
  • Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.

Sources & Accuracy

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

  • Chords from a chart a musician wrote and shared on the iReal Pro forums (archived in the ChoCo research dataset); may be in a different key from the recording, and not checked against it.

    Community chord chart “For The Sake Of The Song - Flinner” (credited “Townes Van Zandt”, style Pop - Country) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.

All Piano Voicings

#SectionChordLeft handRight handSources
1A Section, part 1 (×2)CC2, G2C4, E4, G4—
2A Section, part 1 (×2)FF2, C3C4, F4, A4—
3A Section, part 2CC2, G2C4, E4, G4—
4B Section, part 1 (×2)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
5B Section, part 1 (×2)CC2, G2C4, E4, G4—
6B Section, part 2C7C2, G2B♭3, E4, G4—
7C Section (×2)FF2, C3C4, F4, A4—
8C Section (×2)CC2, G2C4, E4, G4—
9C Section (×2)FF2, C3C4, F4, A4—
10C Section (×2)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
11D Section, part 1FF2, C3C4, F4, A4—
12D Section, part 2 (×2)CC2, G2C4, E4, G4—
13D Section, part 2 (×2)GG2, D3B3, D4, G4—
14D Section, part 3CC2, G2C4, E4, G4—