Living for the City by Stevie Wonder

Overview

Key: F♯ major · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 16

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse ×2 → Interlude → Bridge → Solo → Bridge → Verse ×2 → Interlude → Bridge ×2 → Bridge

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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

• F♯maj9
  Imaj9

Verse 1

• F♯maj9 – B – C♯ – F♯maj9
  Imaj9 – IV – V – Imaj9

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 1

• F♯7/E – D♯m7♭5 – D – C – C7/B♭ – A – G – F♯
  I⁴₂ – viø7 – bVI – bV – bV⁴₂ – bIII – bII – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude 1

• F♯maj9
  Imaj9

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Solo

• F♯maj9
  Imaj9

Bridge 3

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 6

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude 2

Same chords as Interlude 1.

Bridge 4

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Bridge 5

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Bridge 6

• F♯7/E – D♯m7♭5 – D – C – C7/B♭ – A – G
  I⁴₂ – viø7 – bVI – bV – bV⁴₂ – bIII – bII

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
F♯maj9	Imaj9	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Interlude, Solo
B	IV	In the key	Verse
C♯	V	In the key	Verse
F♯7/E	I⁴₂	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
D♯m7♭5	viø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
D	bVI	Borrowed from F♯ minor	Bridge
C	bV	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
C7/B♭	bV⁴₂	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
A	bIII	Borrowed from F♯ minor	Bridge
G	bII	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
F♯	I	Home chord (tonic)	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• D (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♯ minor.
• A (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♯ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 100% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• 96 chords were simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.