Taylor Swift - Daylight - Chord

Key C major – A minor Chords C, G, F, Dm Easy key D

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Capo 0

C            G       F
My love was as cruel as the cities I lived in
C       G              F
Everyone looked worse in the light
                 C                   G          F
There are so many lines that I've crossed unforgiven
     C         G              F
I'll tell you the truth, but never goodbye

C                                             G
I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you
Dm                                           F
I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you
    C                                 G
I've been sleeping so long in a 20 year dark night
       Dm
And now I see daylight,
       F
I only see daylight
 
       C         G            F
Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky
  C         G                  F
And so I became the butt of the joke
       C       G        F
I wounded the good and I trusted the wicked
C        G                    F
Clearing the air, I breathed in the smoke
C
 Maybe you ran with the wolves and refused to settle down
G
 Maybe I've stormed out of every single room in this town
Dm
 Threw out our cloaks and our daggers because it's morning now
F
 It's brighter now, now

C                             G
I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you 
Dm                              F
I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you 
    C                               G
I've been sleeping so long in a 20 year dark night 
       Dm
And now I see daylight ,
       F
I only see daylight 
       C                       G
I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight
       Dm                        F
I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight

C
 And I can still see it all 
G
 All of you, all of me 
Dm
 I once believed love would be 
F
 But it's golden 
C
 And I can still see it all 
G
 Back and forth from New York 
Dm
 I once believed love would be 
F
 But it's golden
    C
 Like Daylight
      G
 Like daylight
    Dm
 Like daylight
 F
Daylight

C                                           G
I don't wanna look at anything else now that I saw you 
Dm                                           F
I don't wanna think of anything else now that I thought of you 
    C                              G
I've been sleeping so long in a 20 year dark night 
       Dm
And now I see daylight ,
          F
I only see daylight 

       C                                  G
I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight
       Dm                                 F
I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight 
       C                                  G
I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight
       Dm                                 F
I only see daylight, daylight, daylight, daylight

C       G
 Like daylight
     Dm         F
 It's golden like daylight
      C                       G
 You gotta step into the daylight and let it go
          Dm          F   C G
 Just let it go, let it go
                            Dm
 I wanna be defined by the things that I love
                 F
 Not the things I hate
                            C
 Not the things that I'm afraid of, I'm afraid of
             G
 Not the things that haunt me in the middle of the night
    Dm
 I, I just think that
F
 You are what you love

End of song Play again?

Taylor Swift - Daylight Tabs

NotesX

Harmony analysis

Taylor Swift – Daylight: key and chord analysis

The song opens on C and ends on F. Its chords belong to both C major and Am, so every chord below is read both ways.

Major view

C major

Brightness rank 2/7 (bright)

Characteristic notes

7 = B (leading tone, pulls home)
4 = F (the note that leans on the 3rd)

Minor view

A minor

Brightness rank 5/7 (leaning dark)

Characteristic notes

b6 = F (the minor's melancholy)
b7 = G (natural-minor colour)

Which side does the ear lean to?

Our reading: to us the song feels closer to the C major side because it opens on C and C is heard 25 times while Am never appears. That is an interpretation, not a rule — hearing the same chords from A minor is just as valid and teaches you something different.

Chord degrees: major and relative minor

Show the degrees above the chords — relative to C or to Am; comparing both readings is a practice of its own.

Every chord of the key, listed 1 to 7 separately for each key. Chords played in the song show how often they appear; chords from outside the scale sit next to their own degree.

Seen from C major
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
I	C	Tonic — home	C · E · G	25×
ii	Dm	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	D · F · A	17×
iii	Em	Mediant — a tonic-family shade	E · G · B	—
III	E	Chromatic colour chordoutside the key	E · G# · B	—
IV	F	Subdominant — moves away from home	F · A · C	25×
V	G	Dominant — strongest pull home	G · B · D	25×
vi	Am	Relative minor — the melancholy side	A · C · E	—
vii°	Bdim	Leading-tone chord — tension	B · D · F	—

Seen from A minor
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
i	Am	Tonic — home	A · C · E	—
ii°	Bdim	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	B · D · F	—
III	C	Relative major — the bright side	C · E · G	25×
iv	Dm	Subdominant — moves away from home	D · F · A	17×
v	Em	Minor dominant — soft pull	E · G · B	—
V	E	Dominant — borrowed from harmonic minor, pulls hard to the tonicharmonic minor	E · G# · B	—
VI	F	Submediant — warm colour	F · A · C	25×
VII	G	Subtonic — steps back to the tonic	G · B · D	25×

Analysis

The key pair is C major and its relative A minor (no sharps or flats). 4 different chords appear 92 times in total; 4 of them sit naturally inside the shared scale. Everything stays inside one scale, which is why the song is easy to follow by ear.

Chord movement

F C CIV → Iplagal cadence AmVI → III ×24

The move to watch is F → C, heard 24 times. From the C side it reads IV → I (plagal cadence: the soft 'amen' ending); from the Am side it is VI → III. Knowing where these arrivals fall helps you feel the phrasing and anticipate the next chord.

Improvisation tips

C major pentatonic and A minor pentatonic are the same five notes (C – D – E – G – A): start from C for a brighter phrase, from A for a bluesier one.
Over C, land on C, E, G — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over G, land on G, B, D — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over F, land on F, A, C — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.

The song on the circle of fifths

Played in the song — chord of the key
Played — the minor's harmonic V or a secondary dominant
Played — borrowed or outside chord
Home region: IV–I–V and ii–vi–iii

Empty slices are chords the song doesn't use.

Capo and easier keys

With C major shapes

No capo — open C shapes
Capo 3 + A shapes
Capo 5 + G shapes

With A minor shapes

No capo — open Am shapes
Capo 5 + Em shapes
Capo 7 + Dm shapes

Easiest keys on guitar

2 semitones up
5 semitones down · capo 5 keeps the original pitch

The song's harmonic story

Starting on C, the song gives away its key from the very first bar. C, G, F, Dm carry the song: I–V–IV–ii relative to C, III–VII–VI–iv relative to Am. No chord leaves the shared scale, so a single pentatonic shape works over the whole song. Keep an ear on F → C (IV → I in C, VI → III in Am): plagal cadence — the soft 'amen' ending. Ending on F, the song seals C as home.

This analysis is generated from the song's chords by akorculuk's harmony engine using consistent rules. When you change key, the degrees stay the same; only the chord names change.