Scarlet Fever by Kenny Rogers

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Verse → Transition → Chorus → Verse ×2 → Transition → 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 – G (×2)
  I – IV
• A – D – G – A
  V – I – IV – V

Verse 2

• D – G (×2)
  I – IV
• A – D – G – A – D
  V – I – IV – V – I

Verse 3

• D – A – G
  I – V – IV
• D – G – A (×2)
  I – IV – V
• D
  I

Transition 1

• D
  I

Chorus 1

• Gadd9 – A7sus4 – A – Dsus4 – D – G – Em11 – Em7 – A7sus4 – A – D (×2)
  IVadd9 – V7sus4 – V – Isus4 – I – IV – ii11 – ii7 – V7sus4 – V – I

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 2.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 2.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Chorus 2

• Gadd9 – A7sus4 – A – Dsus4 – D – G – Em11 – Em7 – A7sus4 – A – D – Gadd9 – A7sus4 – A – Dsus4 – D – G – Em11 – Em7 – A7sus4
  IVadd9 – V7sus4 – V – Isus4 – I – IV – ii11 – ii7 – V7sus4 – V – I – IVadd9 – V7sus4 – V – Isus4 – I – IV – ii11 – ii7 – V7sus4

Outro

• D
  I

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0372, 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.