If I Can Dream by Elvis Presley

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 26 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → 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.

Key changes

• Verse 3 moves to D major.

Section by section

Intro

• C – Am (×4)
  I – vi

Verse 1

• C – Am – F – C/G – G – C – Am – F – G – C – B♭/C – C7 – F – E7 – Am – C/G – Am – F – F/D – C/E – Am – Dm7 – G7 – G11 – G7
  I – vi – IV – I⁶₄ – V – I – vi – IV – V – I – bVII (bass C) – I7 – IV – III7 – vi – I⁶₄ – vi – IV – IV (bass D) – I⁶ – vi – ii7 – V7 – V11 – V7

Verse 2

• C – Am – F – C/G – G – C – Am – F – G – C – B♭/C – C7 – F – E7 – Am – C/G – Am – F – F/D – C/E – G – C – F – C – C7
  I – vi – IV – I⁶₄ – V – I – vi – IV – V – I – bVII (bass C) – I7 – IV – III7 – vi – I⁶₄ – vi – IV – IV (bass D) – I⁶ – V – I – IV – I – I7

Bridge

• F – F♯dim – C – C7 (×2)
  IV – #iv° – I – I7
• F – F♯dim – G – E7 – Am – C/D – D7 – F/G – G7 – A7
  IV – #iv° – V – III7 – vi – I (bass D) – II7 – IV (bass G) – V7 – VI7

Verse 3

• D – Bm – G – Asus4 – D – Bm – G – A – D – D7 – G – G♯dim
  I – vi – IV – Vsus4 – I – vi – IV – V – I – I7 – IV – #iv°
• D/A – Bm (×2)
  I⁶₄ – vi
• G – Em – A11
  IV – ii – V11
• D – D/A – Bm (×2)
  I – I⁶₄ – vi
• D – G – D
  I – IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭/C (bVII (bass C)) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• C7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to F.
• E7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Am.
• D7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0543, 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.