Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me – Intro
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me – Verse
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me – Chorus
Related Music Concepts
Seventh Chords
Adding one more note to the basic chords
Secondary Chords
Chords that temporarily shift the harmonic center
Inverted Chords
Using a different bass note to change a chord's sound
Non-Standard Mode
New scales and home base chords for a different mood
Borrowed Chords
Using chords from parallel modes for contrast and emotion
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
68 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Classical/Orchestral
Mood
Smooth, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
36
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
0
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
39
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats
●
Key
G Mixolydian
Tempo
68 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Classical/Orchestral
Mood
Smooth, Mellow
Most Used Chord
VII
Chord Complexity
43
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
0
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
44
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Key
C Major
Tempo
67 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Classical/Orchestral
Mood
Smooth, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
49
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
0
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
50
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats
●
Keys
C Major, G Mixolydian
Tempo
68 BPM
Meter
4/4
Genre
Pop, Classical/Orchestral
Mood
Smooth, Mellow, Bright
Most Used Chord
I
Chord Complexity
42
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
0
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty
44
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
About Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me
About the Key
C Major
It is the most common key in all of popular music. Major keys, along with minor keys, are a common choice for popular songs.
I IV V
Most Important Chords
The three most important chords, built off the 1st, 4th and 5th scale degrees are all major chords (C Major, F Major, and G Major).
C Major Cheat Sheet
Popular chords, progressions, downloadable MIDI files and more
About the Chord Progressions
| Section | Progression | Songs with this progression |
|---|---|---|
| Intro |
I
V7/IV
IV
I
IV
ii
|
|
| Verse |
I
VII
IV
VII
IV64/VII
VII
|
|
| Chorus |
I
V7/IV
vi7
II6(lyd)
I
IV
V7
|
No other theorytabs with this progression |
About the Metrics
Chord Complexity
Chord Complexity tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
Melodic Complexity reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
Chord-Melody Tension quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Progression Novelty
Chord Progression Novelty measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Chord-Bass Melody
Chord–Bass Melody evaluates how smoothly the bass moves between chords, scoring higher when it travels step-wise, ascending or descending, instead of jumping directly between root position chords.
Hooktheory's metrics are calculated against the entire database of analyzed songs, where 50 is the "average song." Learn more about each of these metrics here.
Chord Complexity
42
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 42/100 — below average
Melodic Complexity
0
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 0/100 — below average
Chord-Melody Tension
0
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 0/100 — below average
Chord Prog. Novelty
44
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 44/100 — below average
Chord-Bass Melody
18
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 18/100 — below average
Song Data
Metrics Radar Chart
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On MeAverage Song
BPM Comparison
Melody Distribution
Melody distribution data is not available for this song.
Syncopation
How many notes fall on each level of metric strength (0 = on-beat, higher = increasingly off-beat)
Level 0
Notes that fall on the downbeat — the strongest metric position in the measure.
Level 1
Notes on a secondary strong beat (e.g. beat 3 in 4/4) — still firmly on the grid.
Level 2
Notes on the remaining primary beats (2 and 4 in 4/4) — moderate metric weight.
Level 3
Notes on eighth-note offbeats — between the primary beats. Audibly syncopated.
