I Want a New Drug by Huey Lewis & The News

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Pre-Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Solo → Verse → Chorus → Pre-Verse → Solo

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

• A7 – G – D (×8)
  I7 – bVII – IV

Verse 1

• A7 – G – D (×4)
  I7 – bVII – IV
• D7 – C – G (×4)
  IV7 – bIII – bVII
• A7 – G – D (×2)
  I7 – bVII – IV

Chorus 1

• Em – C – F – C – D
  v – bIII – bVI – bIII – IV

Pre-Verse 1

• A7 – G – D (×4)
  I7 – bVII – IV

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

• A7 – G – D (×4)
  I7 – bVII – IV

Solo 1

• A7 – G – D (×36)
  I7 – bVII – IV

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Pre-Verse 2

Same chords as Pre-Verse 1.

Solo 2

• A7 – G – D (×28)
  I7 – bVII – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Em (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• F (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0430, 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.