If by Bread

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → 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

• Aadd9 – E/A – A7sus2 – D69/A – Dm9/A – A – Dm6 – E7
  Iadd9 – V (bass A) – I7sus2 – IV69 (bass A) – iv9 (bass A) – I – iv6 – V7

Verse 1

• Aadd9 – E/A – A7sus2 – D69/A – Dm9/A – A – Dm6 – E7 (×2)
  Iadd9 – V (bass A) – I7sus2 – IV69 (bass A) – iv9 (bass A) – I – iv6 – V7

Chorus 1

• F♯m – F♯m/E♯ – F♯m/E – D6 – C♯m7♭5 – F♯7 – Bm7 – E7
  vi – vi (bass E♯) – vi (bass E) – IV6 – iiiø7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• A – D/A – Dm/A – A
  I – IV⁶₄ – iv⁶₄ – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A7sus2 (I7sus2) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Dm9/A (iv9 (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Dm6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Dm/A (iv⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• F♯7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Bm7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0106, 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.