Rock This Town by Stray Cats

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 13

Form: Intro → Verse → Pre-Verse → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Pre-Verse → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Pre-Chorus → 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

• D
  I

Verse 1

• D – A – D – D7 – G – E7 – D – A
  I – V – I – I7 – IV – II7 – I – V

Pre-Verse 1

• G – D
  IV – I

Verse 2

• D – A – D – D7 – G7 – E7 – D – A7 – D
  I – V – I – I7 – IV7 – II7 – I – V7 – I

Chorus 1

• D – A7 – D – D7 – G – D – A – D
  I – V7 – I – I7 – IV – I – V – I

Solo 1

• D – A – D – D7 – G – E7 – D – A7
  I – V – I – I7 – IV – II7 – I – V7

Pre-Verse 2

• D
  I

Verse 3

• D – A – D – D7 – G7 – E7 – D – A7 – D7
  I – V – I – I7 – IV7 – II7 – I – V7 – I7

Chorus 2

• D – A – D – D7 – G – E7 – D – A7 – D7
  I – V – I – I7 – IV – II7 – I – V7 – I7

Solo 2

Same chords as Solo 1.

Pre-Chorus

• D
  I

Chorus 3

• D – A – D – D7 – G – E7 – D – A7 – D
  I – V – I – I7 – IV – II7 – I – V7 – I

Outro

• D – A7 (×2)
  I – V7
• D – D69
  I – I69

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1102, 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.