Saturday Night by Bay City Rollers

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 12

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

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

• G
  I

Verse 1

• G – Em – C – D (×2)
  I – vi – IV – V

Pre-Chorus 1

• Em – Bm – C – D
  vi – iii – IV – V

Chorus 1

• G – C – G – D (×2)
  I – IV – I – V

Chorus 2

• C – G/B – Am7 – G – C – G/B – Am7
  IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I – IV – I⁶ – ii7

Interlude 1

• G
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Interlude 2

Same chords as Interlude 1.

Chorus 5

• C – G/B – Am7 – G (×3)
  IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• The Verse 1 loops G – Em – C – D (I – vi – IV – V), a rotation of the ’50s progression (I–vi–IV–V family).

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1228, 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.