If I Were a Carpenter by Bobby Darin

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 3 · Sections: 8

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

Section by section

Intro

• D
  I

Verse 1

• D – C – G (×2)
  I – bVII – IV
• D
  I

Verse 2

• D – C – G (×3)
  I – bVII – IV
• D
  I

Chorus

• C – D (×2)
  bVII – I
• C – G – D (×2)
  bVII – IV – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 2.

Solo

• C – G – D (×2)
  bVII – IV – I

Verse 5

• D – C – G (×4)
  I – bVII – IV
• D
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1265, 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.