Silver Threads and Golden Needles by The Cowsills

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 22 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Interlude → Verse → Interlude → Interlude → Solo → Verse → Outro → 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

• F
  I
• C – B♭ (×2)
  V – IV
• C – F
  V – I

Verse 1

• F – B♭ – F – E♭ – C – F – B♭ – F – C – E♭ – F
  I – IV – I – bVII – V – I – IV – I – V – bVII – I

Chorus

• B♭ – F – F/C – C – Dm/C – F/C – B♭/C – F/C – E♭ – E♭/D – C7
  IV – I – I⁶₄ – V – vi (bass C) – I⁶₄ – IV (bass C) – I⁶₄ – bVII – bVII (bass D) – V7

Verse 2

• F – B♭ – B♭7 – B♭ – F – C – F
  I – IV – IV7 – IV – I – V – I

Interlude 1

• F – B♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – C7
  I – IV – bVII – IV⁶ – V7

Verse 3

• F – B♭ – B♭7 – B♭ – F – E♭6
  I – IV – IV7 – IV – I – bVII6

Interlude 2

• F
  I
• C – B♭ (×2)
  V – IV
• C – F
  V – I

Interlude 3

• B♭ – B♭add9/D – C – Fmaj13 – Dm – A/E – A7♯9
  IV – IVadd9 (bass D) – V – Imaj13 – vi – III⁶₄ – III7#9

Solo

• Dm – A♭ – Dm – Dm/A – B♭maj7 – E♭ – E♭sus4 – C7
  vi – bIII – vi – vi⁶₄ – IVmaj7 – bVII – bVIIsus4 – V7

Verse 4

• F – B♭ – F – C – F – F7 – B♭ – F – C
  I – IV – I – V – I – I7 – IV – I – V

Outro 1

• F – B♭ (×2)
  I – IV

Outro 2

• F
  I
• C – B♭ (×2)
  V – IV
• C – F
  V – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• E♭6 (bVII6) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• A♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• E♭sus4 (bVIIsus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• F7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to B♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0474, 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.