Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone Chord Progression Breakdown
Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone (1972) is a intermediate r&b song that uses the progression i – iv – VII – III (Dm, Gm, C, F in Dm).
Analysis
- i (Dm) \u2014 Minor chord, darker emotional quality
- iv (Gm) \u2014 Minor chord, darker emotional quality
- VII (C) \u2014 Borrowed chord from parallel key
- III (F) \u2014 Tonic chord, harmonic home