Goin' Back by The Byrds

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → 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

• E
  I

Verse 1

• E – D6/E (×2)
  I – bVII6 (bass E)
• E
  I

Chorus 1

• C♯m – G♯m – C♯m
  vi – iii – vi
• E – A – Bsus4 (×2)
  I – IV – Vsus4
• E
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude

• Asus4 – Bsus4 – E (×2)
  IVsus4 – Vsus4 – I

Chorus 3

• C♯m – G♯m – C♯m
  vi – iii – vi
• E – A – Bsus4 (×2)
  I – IV – Vsus4

Outro

• Asus4 – Bsus4 – E (×2)
  IVsus4 – Vsus4 – I
• C♯m – G♯m – C♯m – E
  vi – iii – vi – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D6/E (bVII6 (bass E)) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• Asus4 (IVsus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1033, 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.