Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 8

Form: Transition → Verse → Verse → Transition → Solo → Transition → Verse → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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

Transition 1

• C – A (×3)
  bVII – V
• G – F – D
  IV – bIII – I

Verse 1

• D – A – Bm – D
  I – V – vi – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Solo

• D – A – Bm – D
  I – V – vi – I

Transition 3

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• D
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
C	bVII	Borrowed from D minor	Transition
A	V	In the key	Transition, Verse, Solo
G	IV	In the key	Transition
F	bIII	Borrowed from D minor	Transition
D	I	Home chord (tonic)	Transition, Verse, Solo, Outro
Bm	vi	In the key	Verse, Solo

Harmonic highlights

• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• F (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 100% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.