I Want You to Want Me by Cheap Trick

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → 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

• A – G – D – A
  I – bVII – IV – I

Verse 1

• A – A/G♯ – F♯m – F♯m7/E – D – D/C♯ (×2)
  I – I (bass G♯) – vi – vi⁴₂ – IV – IV (bass C♯)
• A – A/G♯ – F♯m – B7 – G – A – A/G♯ – F♯m – B – G – F♯m
  I – I (bass G♯) – vi – II7 – bVII – I – I (bass G♯) – vi – II – bVII – vi

Chorus 1

• A – E – F♯m – D (×2)
  I – V – vi – IV

Verse 2

• A – A/G♯ – F♯m – F♯m7/E – D – D/C♯ – A – A/G♯ – F♯m – B7 – G – A – A/G♯ – F♯m – B – G – F♯m
  I – I (bass G♯) – vi – vi⁴₂ – IV – IV (bass C♯) – I – I (bass G♯) – vi – II7 – bVII – I – I (bass G♯) – vi – II – bVII – vi

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• A – E – F♯m – D (×3)
  I – V – vi – IV

Verse 3

• A – A/G♯ – F♯m – F♯m7/E – D – D/C♯ – A – A/G♯
  I – I (bass G♯) – vi – vi⁴₂ – IV – IV (bass C♯) – I – I (bass G♯)

Outro

• A – G – D – A
  I – bVII – IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• The Chorus 1 loops A – E – F♯m – D (I – V – vi – IV), a rotation of the “axis” progression (I–V–vi–IV family).

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0188, 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.