On the Wings of a Nightingale by The Everly Brothers

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → 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

• A – E (×2)
  I – V

Verse 1

• A – E – A – D – A – E (×2)
  I – V – I – IV – I – V

Chorus 1

• D – E – A – E/G♯ – F♯m – Esus4 – E
  IV – V – I – V⁶ – vi – Vsus4 – V
• F♯m – D (×3)
  vi – IV
• A – E
  I – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• A – E
  I – V
• A – D (×3)
  I – IV
• A – E – A7 – D – A – E – A
  I – V – I7 – IV – I – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to D.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0809, 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.