Rockin' in the Free World by Neil Young

Overview

Key: E minor · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 12

Form: Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition ×2 → Verse → Chorus → Transition → 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.

Key changes

• Chorus 1 moves to G major.
• Transition 2 moves to E minor.
• Chorus 2 moves to G major.
• Transition 3 moves to E minor.
• Chorus 3 moves to G major.
• Transition 5 moves to E minor.

Section by section

Transition 1

• Em – D – C (×4)
  i – bVII – bVI

Verse 1

• Em – D – C (×8)
  i – bVII – bVI

Chorus 1

• G – D – C – Em (×4)
  I – V – IV – vi
• A
  II

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 3

Same chords as Transition 1.

Transition 4

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 5

Same chords as Transition 1.

Outro

• Em – D – C (×2)
  i – bVII – bVI

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Em	i	Home chord (tonic)	Transition, Verse, Outro
D	bVII	In the key	Transition, Verse, Outro
C	bVI	In the key	Transition, Verse, Outro
G	I (in G major)	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus
D	V (in G major)	In the key	Chorus
C	IV (in G major)	In the key	Chorus
Em	vi (in G major)	In the key	Chorus
A	II (in G major)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus

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.