I'm Goin Down by Bruce Springsteen

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 11

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

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

Verse 1

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

Chorus 1

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

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo 1

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

Verse 3

• A5 – E5 – F♯5 – D5 (×4)
  I5 – V5 – VI5 – IV5

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

• A5 – E5 – F♯5 – D5 (×2)
  I5 – V5 – VI5 – IV5

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo 2

• A – E – F♯m – D (×5)
  I – V – vi – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• The Intro 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 0426, 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.