Roll on Down the Highway by Bachman-Turner Overdrive

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 13

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Solo → Solo → Solo → Chorus ×2 → 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 – B♭ – C (×3)
  I – bVI – bVII
• D
  I

Verse 1

• D – C – B♭ – Asus4 – A (×2)
  I – bVII – bVI – Vsus4 – V

Chorus 1

• D – G (×3)
  I – IV
• D – B♭ – C
  I – bVI – bVII

Interlude 1

• D
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 2

• D – B♭ – C (×3)
  I – bVI – bVII

Solo 1

• D – C – B♭ – Asus4 – A (×2)
  I – bVII – bVI – Vsus4 – V

Solo 2

Same chords as Solo 1.

Solo 3

• D – C – B♭ – Asus4 – A
  I – bVII – bVI – Vsus4 – V

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• D – G (×3)
  I – IV
• D – B♭ – C – D
  I – bVI – bVII – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0351, 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.