Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer - Chord

Key A major – F# minor Chords C, Bm, Em, G, D Difficulty already in its easiest key

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Capo 0

G

C                D
Fever dream high in the quiet of the night
    Bm                       Em
You know that I caught it 
C             D
Bad, bad boy, shiny toy with a price
    Bm                       Em
You know that I bought it 

           C                D
Killing me slow, out the window
                   Bm                     Em
I’m always waiting for you to be waiting below
                C
Devils roll the dice, angels roll their eyes
             D
What doesn’t kill me makes me want you more

         G
And it’s new, the shape of your body
     Bm
It’s blue, the feeling I’ve got
         Em
And it’s ooh ooh ooh whoa oh
       C
It’s a cruel summer

     G
It’s cool, that’s what I tell ’em
   Bm
No rules, unbreakable heaven
    Em
But ooh ooh ooh whoa oh
       C                  G
It’s a cruel summer, with you

C                  D                             Bm
Hang your head low in the glow of the vending machine
                   Em
I’m not buying 
    C                   D                            Bm
You say that we’ll just screw it up in these trying times
                     Em
We’re not trying 

               C                D
So cut the headlights, summer’s a knife
                   Bm                    Em
I’m always waiting for you just to cut to the bone
                C
Devils roll the dice , angels roll their eyes 
         D
And if I bleed, you’ll be the last to know

        G
Oh it’s new, the shape of your body
     Bm
It’s blue, the feeling I’ve got
         Em
And it’s ooh ooh ooh whoa oh
       C
It’s a cruel summer

     G
It’s cool, that’s what I tell ’em
   Bm
No rules, unbreakable heaven
    Em
But ooh ooh ooh whoa oh
       C                 
It’s a cruel summer, with you

G
  I’m drunk in the back of the car
      Bm
And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar 
Em
    Said I’m fine, but it wasn’t true
        C
I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you

    G
And I snuck in through the garden gate
      Bm
Every night that summer just to seal my fate 
Em
    And I screamed for whatever it’s worth
   C                                              
“I love you”, ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard

He looks up, grinning like a devil

     G
It’s new, the shape of your body
     Bm
It’s blue, the feeling I’ve got
         Em
And it’s ooh ooh ooh whoa oh
       C
It’s a cruel summer

     G
It’s cool, that’s what I tell ’em
   Bm
No rules, unbreakable heaven
    Em
But ooh ooh ooh whoa oh
       C                  G
It’s a cruel summer, with you

G
  I’m drunk in the back of the car
      Bm
And I cried like a baby coming home from the bar 
Em
    Said I’m fine, but it wasn’t true
        C
I don’t wanna keep secrets just to keep you

    G
And I snuck in through the garden gate
      Bm
Every night that summer just to seal my fate 
Em
    And I screamed for whatever it’s worth
   C                                              G
“I love you,” ain’t that the worst thing you ever heard

End of song Play again?

Taylor Swift - Cruel Summer Tabs

NotesX

Harmony analysis

Taylor Swift – Cruel Summer: key and chord analysis

The song opens on G and ends on G. Its chords belong to both A major and F#m, so every chord below is read both ways.

Major view

A major

Brightness rank 2/7 (bright)

Characteristic notes

7 = G# (leading tone, pulls home)
4 = D (the note that leans on the 3rd)

Minor view

F# minor

Brightness rank 5/7 (leaning dark)

Characteristic notes

b6 = D (the minor's melancholy)
b7 = E (natural-minor colour)

Which side does the ear lean to?

Our reading: we can't honestly pick a side here — the song moves freely between A major and F# minor. Try reading the chords both ways and see which feels more like home to you.

Chord degrees: major and relative minor

Show the degrees above the chords — relative to A or to F#m; 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 A major
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
I	A	Tonic — home	A · C# · E	—
ii	Bm	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	B · D · F#	16×
bIII	C	Borrowed from the parallel minorborrowed chord	C · E · G	18×
iii	C#m	Mediant — a tonic-family shade	C# · E · G#	—
III	C#	Chromatic colour chordoutside the key	C# · E# · G#	—
IV	D	Subdominant — moves away from home	D · F# · A	8×
V	E	Dominant — strongest pull home	E · G# · B	—
v	Em	Chromatic colour chordoutside the key	E · G · B	16×
vi	F#m	Relative minor — the melancholy side	F# · A · C#	—
bVII	G	bVII — borrowed (Mixolydian / parallel minor)borrowed chord	G · B · D	14×
vii°	G#dim	Leading-tone chord — tension	G# · B · D	—

Seen from F# minor
Degree	Chord	Role	Notes	In song
i	F#m	Tonic — home	F# · A · C#	—
bII	G	Neapolitan bII — a dark, dramatic colour a half step above the tonicborrowed chord	G · B · D	14×
ii°	G#dim	Supertonic — prepares the dominant	G# · B · D	—
III	A	Relative major — the bright side	A · C# · E	—
iv	Bm	Subdominant — moves away from home	B · D · F#	16×
#IV	C	Chromatic colour chordoutside the key	C · E · G	18×
v	C#m	Minor dominant — soft pull	C# · E · G#	—
V	C#	Dominant — borrowed from harmonic minor, pulls hard to the tonicharmonic minor	C# · E# · G#	—
VI	D	Submediant — warm colour	D · F# · A	8×
VII	E	Subtonic — steps back to the tonic	E · G# · B	—
vii	Em	Chromatic colour chordoutside the key	E · G · B	16×

Analysis

The key pair is A major and its relative F# minor (3 sharps). 5 different chords appear 72 times in total; 2 of them sit naturally inside the shared scale. C, G are borrowed from the parallel minor, adding a darker shade to the major side.

Chord movement

There's no textbook cadence here; the chords circle around each other in a loop, so the song feels more like a groove than a series of arrivals.

Improvisation tips

A major pentatonic and F# minor pentatonic are the same five notes (A – B – C# – E – F#): start from A for a brighter phrase, from F# for a bluesier one.
Over C, land on C, E, G — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over Bm, land on B, D, F# — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
Over Em, land on E, G, B — the chord's own tones always sound right on strong beats.
On C, follow the chord's notes (C · E · G) rather than the key's scale — it's a borrowed colour.

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 A major shapes

No capo — open A shapes
Capo 2 + G shapes
Capo 5 + E shapes

With F# minor shapes

Capo 2 + Em shapes
Capo 4 + Dm shapes

Easiest keys on guitar

The song is already written in its easiest key for guitar.

The song's harmonic story

The first chord is G; the ear learns where home is within a second. The backbone is C, Bm, Em, G — bIII–ii–v–bVII from the A side, #IV–iv–vii–bII from the F#m side. C briefly darkens the picture: borrowed from the parallel minor. It closes on G, letting the A side have the last word.

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.