The Times They Are A-Changin' by Bob Dylan

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 16

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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

• G
  I

Verse 1

• G – Em – C (×2)
  I – vi – IV
• D – G – Em – C – G – Am – D
  V – I – vi – IV – I – ii – V

Chorus 1

• D – Cmaj9 – G/B
  V – IVmaj9 – I⁶
• D – G (×2)
  V – I

Transition 1

• G – Em – C – G
  I – vi – IV – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• D – Cmaj9 – G/B – D – G – G/B – Cmaj9 – D
  V – IVmaj9 – I⁶ – V – I – I⁶ – IVmaj9 – V

Transition 2

• G – Em – C – G – D – Cmaj9 – G/B – D
  I – vi – IV – I – V – IVmaj9 – I⁶ – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Transition 3

• G – D – Cmaj9 – D – G
  I – V – IVmaj9 – V – I

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 4

• G – Em – C – G – D
  I – vi – IV – I – V
• Cmaj9 – G/B – D – G (×2)
  IVmaj9 – I⁶ – V – I

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Outro

• G – Em – C (×2)
  I – vi – IV
• D
  V

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Transition, Outro
Em	vi	In the key	Verse, Transition, Outro
C	IV	In the key	Verse, Transition, Outro
D	V	In the key	Verse, Chorus, Transition, Outro
Am	ii	In the key	Verse
Cmaj9	IVmaj9	In the key	Chorus, Transition
G/B	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus, Transition

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 93% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.