Wild Child by Enya

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 13

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)

• C
  I

Part 2 (0:07)

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

Part 3 (0:25)

• Am – F – C – G – C – Am – F – G
  vi – IV – I – V – I – vi – IV – V

Part 4 (0:43)

• C – Am – F – G – C – G – Am
  I – vi – IV – V – I – V – vi

Part 5 (1:01)

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

Part 6 (1:19)

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

Part 7 (1:37)

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

Part 8 (1:55)

• G – C – G – Am – F – C – G
  V – I – V – vi – IV – I – V

Part 9 (2:13)

• C – G – Am – F – C – G – C
  I – V – vi – IV – I – V – I

Part 10 (2:31)

• G – C – G – F – D7/F♯ – G – C – D – D7
  V – I – V – IV – II⁶₅ – V – I – II – II7

Part 11 (2:49)

• G – C – G – Am – F – C – G – C
  V – I – V – vi – IV – I – V – I

Part 12 (3:07)

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

Part 13 (3:25)

• F
  IV
• C – G (×2)
  I – V
• C
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D7/F♯ acts as V/V: it resolves to G.
• The Part 7 (1:37) loops G – C – Am – F (V – I – vi – IV), a rotation of the ’50s progression (I–vi–IV–V family).

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (A Day Without Rain), 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 (A Day Without Rain), 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.