Surrender by Cheap Trick

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 11

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

Key changes

• Verse 3 moves to C major.

Section by section

Intro

• B♭9sus4 – B♭ (×2)
  I9sus4 – I

Verse 1

• B – F♯ – E (×2)
  #I – #V – #IV
• B – E – F♯ (×2)
  #I – #IV – #V
• B
  #I

Chorus 1

• B – G♯m7 – F♯add11 – E (×2)
  #I – #vi7 – #Vadd11 – #IV

Interlude 1

• B9sus4 – B (×2)
  #I9sus4 – #I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 2

Same chords as Interlude 1.

Verse 3

• C – G – F (×2)
  I – V – IV
• C – F – G (×2)
  I – IV – V
• C
  I

Chorus 3

• C – Am7 – Gadd11 – F (×2)
  I – vi7 – Vadd11 – IV

Interlude 3

• C – F – C – G (×2)
  I – IV – I – V

Chorus 4

• C – Am7 – Gadd11 – F (×7)
  I – vi7 – Vadd11 – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭9sus4 (I9sus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• F♯ (#V) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0555, 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.