Modern Love by David Bowie

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 11

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

• D/E – Em – D/C – C – C/D – Dsus4 – D/E – Em
  II (bass E) – iii – II (bass C) – I – I (bass D) – IIsus4 – II (bass E) – iii

Verse 1

• C – G – Am7 – Am – E7 – F
  I – V – vi7 – vi – III7 – IV

Chorus 1

• C – G – Em7 – Em
  I – V – iii7 – iii

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

• C – D – Em – F (×3)
  I – II – iii – IV

Interlude

• D/E – Em – D/C – C – C/D – Dsus4 – D/E – Em
  II (bass E) – iii – II (bass C) – I – I (bass D) – IIsus4 – II (bass E) – iii

Solo

• C – G – Am7 – Am – E7 – F – C – G – Em7 – Em
  I – V – vi7 – vi – III7 – IV – I – V – iii7 – iii

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 5

• C – D – Em – F (×12)
  I – II – iii – IV

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0970, 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.