Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 16

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• D5
  I5

Part 2 (0:04)

• A5 – D5 – A5
  V5 – I5 – V5

Part 3 (0:18)

• D – A (×2)
  I – V

Part 4 (0:31)

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

Part 5 (0:45)

• Bm
  vi
• A – D (×2)
  V – I

Part 6 (0:59)

• A – D – A – Bm – A
  V – I – V – vi – V

Part 7 (1:13)

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

Part 8 (1:27)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:18).

Part 9 (1:41)

• F – B♭ – C – B♭/D – F – B♭ – C
  bIII – bVI – bVII – bVI⁶ – bIII – bVI – bVII

Part 10 (1:54)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:18).

Part 11 (2:08)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:18).

Part 12 (2:22)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:31).

Part 13 (2:36)

Same chords as Part 5 (0:45).

Part 14 (2:50)

• A – D (×2)
  V – I

Part 15 (3:03)

Same chords as Part 14 (2:50).

Part 16 (3:17)

• A – D (×2)
  V – I
• A
  V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• B♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• B♭/D (bVI⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Reckless), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Reckless), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.