Gotta Serve Somebody by Bob Dylan
Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 8 steps · 3 unique chords · 1970s
Am
Whole song transcribed by
Harmonic Analysis & Structure
Overview
Key: A minor · Chords used: 3 · Sections: 9
Form: Intro → Verse → Verse ×6 → 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
- Am
i
Verse 1
- Am – D7 – Am – E7 – D7 – Am
i – IV7 – i – V7 – IV7 – i
Verse 2
Same chords as Verse 1.
Verse 3
Same chords as Verse 1.
Verse 4
Same chords as Verse 1.
Verse 5
Same chords as Verse 1.
Verse 6
Same chords as Verse 1.
Verse 7
Same chords as Verse 1.
Outro
- Am
i
Chord vocabulary
| Chord | Roman numeral | Role | Heard in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Am | i | Home chord (tonic) | Intro, Verse, Outro |
| D7 | IV7 | Outside the key (chromatic) | Verse |
| E7 | V7 | In the key | Verse |
Sources & accuracy
- Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0282, 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.
Sources & Accuracy
Every chord on this page comes from the expert transcription listed first below. Piano voicings are our arrangement of the reported chord symbols, not a note-for-note transcription.
- the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011)Expert transcription
Annotated from the original recording by trained musicians for a published research dataset.
Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0282, CC0), via ChoCo.
All Piano Voicings
| # | Section | Chord | Left hand | Right hand | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro | Am | A2, E3 | C4, E4, A4 | — |
| 2 | Verse 1 | Am | A2, E3 | C4, E4, A4 | — |
| 3 | Verse 1 | D7 | D2, A2 | C4, F♯4, A4 | — |
| 4 | Verse 1 | Am | A2, E3 | C4, E4, A4 | — |
| 5 | Verse 1 | E7 | E2, B2 | B3, D4, G♯4 | — |
| 6 | Verse 1 | D7 | D2, A2 | C4, F♯4, A4 | — |
| 7 | Verse 1 | Am | A2, E3 | C4, E4, A4 | — |
| 8 | Outro | Am | A2, E3 | C4, E4, A4 | — |