Give to Live by Sammy Hagar

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 10

Form: Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Bridge → 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

Verse 1

• Em – A – D – G/B – G – A – D – Em – A – D – Bm – G – A – A/G – A/F♯ – A/E
  ii – V – I – IV⁶ – IV – V – I – ii – V – I – vi – IV – V – V (bass G) – V (bass F♯) – V⁶₄

Chorus 1

• D – G – A (×2)
  I – IV – V
• D – Em – F♯m – A – Bm – G – A – F♯m
  I – ii – iii – V – vi – IV – V – iii

Transition 1

• Bm
  vi

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Bridge

• C – G – D – A – C – G – A – A/G – A/F♯ – A/E – D
  bVII – IV – I – V – bVII – IV – V – V (bass G) – V (bass F♯) – V⁶₄ – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

• D – G – A (×2)
  I – IV – V
• D – Em – F♯m – A – D – G – A
  I – ii – iii – V – I – IV – V

Outro

• D – G – A (×10)
  I – IV – V
• D/A
  I⁶₄

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C (bVII) 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 0465, 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.