I Rise, I Fall by Johnny Tillotson

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 4

Form: Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse

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

• E – C♯m – A – B (×2)
  I – vi – IV – V
• E – A – B – G♯ – C♯m – A – B – E – B
  I – IV – V – III – vi – IV – V – I – V

Verse 2

• E – C♯m – A – B (×2)
  I – vi – IV – V
• E – A – B – G♯ – C♯m – A – B – E – E7
  I – IV – V – III – vi – IV – V – I – I7

Bridge

• A – G♯m7 – A – E – E7 – A – G♯m7 – F♯7 – B – A – G♯m – F♯m
  IV – iii7 – IV – I – I7 – IV – iii7 – II7 – V – IV – iii – ii

Verse 3

• E – C♯m – A – B (×2)
  I – vi – IV – V
• E – A – B – G♯ – C♯m – A – B – E – E7 – A – B – E – C♯m – E
  I – IV – V – III – vi – IV – V – I – I7 – IV – V – I – vi – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G♯ acts as V/vi: it resolves to C♯m.
• E7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to A.
• F♯7 acts as V/V: it resolves to B.
• The Verse 1 loops E – C♯m – A – B (I – vi – IV – V), a rotation of the ’50s progression (I–vi–IV–V family).

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0355, 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.