Living in the Past by Jethro Tull

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Interlude → Verse → Interlude → Chorus → Outro

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

• Cm – Fsus4 (×4)
  i – IVsus4
• F – E♭ – B♭sus4 – Cm7 (×2)
  IV – bIII – bVIIsus4 – i7
• C5 – F
  I5 – IV
• G – G7sus4 (×3)
  V – V7sus4
• G – D (×4)
  V – II

Verse 1

• C – B♭ (×7)
  I – bVII
• C
  I
• F – E♭ – B♭sus4 (×4)
  IV – bIII – bVIIsus4
• C – B♭ (×3)
  I – bVII
• C
  I

Interlude 1

• Cm – Fsus4 (×4)
  i – IVsus4
• F – E♭ – B♭sus4 – Cm7 (×2)
  IV – bIII – bVIIsus4 – i7
• C5 – F
  I5 – IV
• G – G7sus4 (×3)
  V – V7sus4
• G – D (×4)
  V – II

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude 2

• Cm – Fsus4 (×4)
  i – IVsus4
• F – E♭ – B♭sus4 – Cm7 (×2)
  IV – bIII – bVIIsus4 – i7
• C5
  I5

Chorus

• C7 – B♭ (×8)
  I7 – bVII

Outro

• C7 – B♭ (×4)
  I7 – bVII
• F/A – C7 – B♭ (×2)
  IV⁶ – I7 – bVII
• F – C7 – B♭ (×10)
  IV – I7 – bVII
• F
  IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Cm (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fsus4 (IVsus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭sus4 (bVIIsus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Cm7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• D acts as V/V: it resolves to G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0706, 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.