Happy Jack by The Who

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 3 · Sections: 14

Form: Intro → Verse → Transition → Verse → Transition → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Interlude → Transition → Chorus → Interlude → Pre-Chorus → 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

• D
  I

Verse 1

• D – A (×2)
  I – V
• D
  I

Transition 1

• D
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Pre-Chorus 1

• G – A (×2)
  IV – V

Chorus 1

• D – A (×2)
  I – V
• D
  I

Interlude 1

• A – D (×3)
  V – I
• A
  V

Transition 3

Same chords as Transition 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 2

• A – D (×2)
  V – I
• G – A – D – G – A
  IV – V – I – IV – V

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• D
  I

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0891, 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.