Morning Has Broken by Cat Stevens

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 20 · Sections: 18

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• D – G/D – A – F♯ – Bm – Bdim – C – F/C
  IV – bVII⁶₄ – I – VI – ii – ii° – bIII – bVI⁶₄

Part 2 (0:10)

• C/E – C – Dm – G – F – C
  bIII⁶ – bIII – iv – bVII – bVI – bIII

Part 3 (0:21)

• Em – Am – D7 – G – C – F
  v – i – IV7 – bVII – bIII – bVI

Part 4 (0:32)

• C – Am – D – G7 – C – F – G
  bIII – i – IV – bVII7 – bIII – bVI – bVII

Part 5 (0:43)

• C – F – G – E7/G♯ – Am – G – C – G7
  bIII – bVI – bVII – V⁶₅ – i – bVII – bIII – bVII7

Part 6 (0:53)

• C – Dm – G – F – C – Em
  bIII – iv – bVII – bVI – bIII – v

Part 7 (1:04)

• Am – D7 – G – C – F – C
  i – IV7 – bVII – bIII – bVI – bIII

Part 8 (1:15)

• Am – D – G7 – C – F – G – C – F
  i – IV – bVII7 – bIII – bVI – bVII – bIII – bVI

Part 9 (1:25)

• G – E7/G♯ – Am – F♯ – Bm – G – D – A7
  bVII – V⁶₅ – i – VI – ii – bVII – IV – I7

Part 10 (1:36)

• D – Em – A – G – D
  IV – v – I – bVII – IV

Part 11 (1:47)

• F♯m – Bm – E7 – A – D – G
  vi – ii – V7 – I – IV – bVII

Part 12 (1:58)

• D – Bm – E7 – A – D – G – A7
  IV – ii – V7 – I – IV – bVII – I7

Part 13 (2:09)

• D – G – A – F♯ – Bm – Bdim – C – F/C
  IV – bVII – I – VI – ii – ii° – bIII – bVI⁶₄

Part 14 (2:20)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:10).

Part 15 (2:31)

• Em – Am – D7 – G – G7 – C – F
  v – i – IV7 – bVII – bVII7 – bIII – bVI

Part 16 (2:42)

• C – Am – D7 – G – C – F – G – C
  bIII – i – IV7 – bVII – bIII – bVI – bVII – bIII

Part 17 (2:53)

• F/C – G – E7/G♯ – Am – F♯ – Bm – G – D
  bVI⁶₄ – bVII – V⁶₅ – i – VI – ii – bVII – IV

Part 18 (3:04)

• A7 – D
  I7 – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• A (I) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• Bm (ii) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• F♯m (vi) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.
• D7 acts as V/bVII: it resolves to G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Teaser And The Firecat), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Teaser And The Firecat), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.