
Nevertheless, the emotional effect is the same. The version of the progression in “I’d Have To Be Crazy” uses a different harmonic rhythm, and starts on the I chord instead of vi. I had the pleasure of performing this tune many times back in my country music days, and it makes a great lullaby for my kids. I mentally refer to this progression as the Willie Nelson turnaround, because I first heard it in his classic recording of “I’d Have To Be Crazy”, written by Steven Fromholz. It’s in the key of E-flat, but I transposed it into C for ease of understanding: If you listen to this piece at 6:16, there’s a particularly beautiful and tragic chord progression.


The short-lived Russian composer Vasily Kalinnikov is best known (to the extent he’s known at all) for this piece of music: See also the happiest chord progression ever.
