It Keeps Right on A-Hurtin' by Johnny Tillotson

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus

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

• E7 – A – D – A – E
  V7 – I – IV – I – V

Verse 1

• A – A7 – D – A – E7 – A – A7 – D – E7 – A – D – A
  I – I7 – IV – I – V7 – I – I7 – IV – V7 – I – IV – I

Chorus 1

• E7 – D (×2)
  V7 – IV
• A – A7 – D – E7 – A – D – A – E
  I – I7 – IV – V7 – I – IV – I – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• E7 – D (×2)
  V7 – IV
• A – A7 – D – E7 – A – D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – A
  I – I7 – IV – V7 – I – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to D.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1041, 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.