Sweet Music Man by Kenny Rogers

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse ×2 → Chorus → 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.

Section by section

Intro

• D – Em – Asus4 – A – D – D/F♯ – G – Asus4 – A7 – D
  I – ii – Vsus4 – V – I – I⁶ – IV – Vsus4 – V7 – I

Verse 1

• D – D7 – G – D – A7 – D
  I – I7 – IV – I – V7 – I

Verse 2

• D – G – D – A7 – D
  I – IV – I – V7 – I

Chorus 1

• G – A7 – D (×3)
  IV – V7 – I
• A/C♯ – Bm – Gm/B♭ – D/A – A7 – D
  V⁶ – vi – iv⁶ – I⁶₄ – V7 – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 5

• D – A7
  I – V7

Outro

• D – C6 – G/B – A7 – D
  I – bVII6 – IV⁶ – V7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Gm/B♭ (iv⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C6 (bVII6) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• D7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0472, 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.