I Walk the Line by Johnny Cash

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 14

Form: Intro → Transition → Verse → Transition → Verse → Transition → Verse → Interlude → Transition → Verse → Interlude → Transition → Verse → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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.

Key changes

• Transition 1 moves to F major.
• Transition 2 moves to B♭ major.
• Transition 3 moves to E♭ major.
• Interlude 1 moves to B♭ major.
• Interlude 2 moves to F major.

Section by section

Intro

• B♭ – E♭ – B♭ – F – C – F
  I – IV – I – V – II – V

Transition 1

• F
  I

Verse 1

• C – F (×2)
  V – I
• B♭ – F – C – F
  IV – I – V – I

Transition 2

• B♭
  I

Verse 2

• F – B♭ (×2)
  V – I
• E♭ – B♭ – F – B♭
  IV – I – V – I

Transition 3

• E♭
  I

Verse 3

• B♭ – E♭ (×2)
  V – I
• A♭ – E♭ – B♭ – E♭
  IV – I – V – I

Interlude 1

• B♭
  I

Transition 4

Same chords as Transition 2.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 2.

Interlude 2

• F
  I

Transition 5

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• F
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
B♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Transition, Verse, Interlude
E♭	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse
F	V	In the key	Intro, Verse
C	II	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Intro
F	I (in F major)	Home chord (tonic)	Transition, Verse, Interlude, Outro
C	V (in F major)	In the key	Verse
B♭	IV (in F major)	In the key	Verse
E♭	I (in E♭ major)	Home chord (tonic)	Transition, Verse
B♭	V (in E♭ major)	In the key	Verse
A♭	IV (in E♭ major)	In the key	Verse

Harmonic highlights

• C acts as V/V: it resolves to F.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 100% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.