Old Days by Chicago

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 18 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Verse → Interlude → Intro → 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 1

• Em – Dm – F – Em – G – G/A – Em – Dm – F – Em – G
  iii – ii – IV – iii – V – V (bass A) – iii – ii – IV – iii – V

Verse 1

• C – Em7 – F69 – C – Dm7 – F – G7 (×2)
  I – iii7 – IV69 – I – ii7 – IV – V7
• Dm7 – G7 (×3)
  ii7 – V7
• Dm7 – E7sus4 – E7
  ii7 – III7sus4 – III7
• Am – E7/G♯ – G6 – D7/F♯ (×2)
  vi – III⁶₅ – V6 – II⁶₅

Interlude

• F – Am7 (×2)
  IV – vi7
• Dm7 – Em7 – F – G7sus4 – G6
  ii7 – iii7 – IV – V7sus4 – V6

Intro 2

Same chords as Intro 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus

• F – Em – G (×16)
  IV – iii – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Am.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0445, 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.