San Franciscan Nights by The Animals

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 8

Form: Pre-Verse → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Solo → Verse → Bridge → Solo

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

Pre-Verse

• C – Em/B – Am7 – Em/G
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi7 – iii⁶

Verse 1

• C – Em/B – Am7 – Em/G (×2)
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi7 – iii⁶
• Dm
  ii
• F – C – D (×2)
  IV – I – II
• F – C
  IV – I

Verse 2

• C – Em/B – Am7 – Em/G (×2)
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi7 – iii⁶
• D – F – C (×3)
  II – IV – I

Bridge 1

• Fm – Em – F – G
  iv – iii – IV – V

Solo 1

• C – Em/B – Am7 – Em/G (×2)
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi7 – iii⁶
• D – F – C (×3)
  II – IV – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Solo 2

• C – Em/B – Am7 – Em/G (×2)
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi7 – iii⁶
• D – F – C – D
  II – IV – I – II

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Fm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0168, 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.