Southern Cross by Crosby, Stills & Nash

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Bridge → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Bridge → Chorus → Interlude → Solo → Verse → 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.

Key changes

• Bridge 1 moves to D major.
• Interlude 1 moves to A major.
• Bridge 2 moves to D major.
• Interlude 2 moves to A major.

Section by section

Intro

• A – Gmaj9 – D (×2)
  I – bVIImaj9 – IV
• A
  I

Verse 1

• A – G – D (×8)
  I – bVII – IV
• Bm – A
  ii – I

Bridge 1

• G – D – G – A (×3)
  IV – I – IV – V

Chorus 1

• D – G – A (×4)
  I – IV – V

Interlude 1

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

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 2

Same chords as Interlude 1.

Solo

• A – G – D (×4)
  I – bVII – IV
• A
  I

Verse 3

• A – G – D (×4)
  I – bVII – IV
• A
  I

Outro

• A – G – D (×2)
  I – bVII – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0589, 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.