Abraham, Martin and John by Dion

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Transition → Verse → Solo → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

• E – G♯m – F♯m7 – A – E – B9sus4 – B – A/E – E
  I – iii – ii7 – IV – I – V9sus4 – V – IV⁶₄ – I

Verse 1

• E – G♯m7 – F♯m7 – A – E – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – B7 – C♯m – G♯m7 – F♯sus4 – A – G♯m7 – F♯m – B – E
  I – iii7 – ii7 – IV – I – ii7 – iii7 – V7 – vi – iii7 – IIsus4 – IV – iii7 – ii – V – I

Transition

• E – B9 – A – E
  I – V9 – IV – I

Verse 2

• E – G♯m7 – F♯m7 – A – E – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – B7 – C♯m – G♯m7 – F♯sus4 – A – G♯m7 – F♯m – B – A
  I – iii7 – ii7 – IV – I – ii7 – iii7 – V7 – vi – iii7 – IIsus4 – IV – iii7 – ii – V – IV

Solo

• E – A – E
  I – IV – I

Verse 3

• E – G♯m7 – F♯m7 – A – E – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – B7 – C♯m – G♯m7 – F♯sus4 – A – G♯m7 – F♯m – B – A – E
  I – iii7 – ii7 – IV – I – ii7 – iii7 – V7 – vi – iii7 – IIsus4 – IV – iii7 – ii – V – IV – I

Bridge

• A – G♯m7 – F♯sus4
  IV – iii7 – IIsus4
• A – G♯m7 (×2)
  IV – iii7
• F♯sus4 – A (×2)
  IIsus4 – IV
• E – Bm7 – D – A – G♯m7 – F♯9sus4 – Bsus4 – B
  I – v7 – bVII – IV – iii7 – II9sus4 – Vsus4 – V

Verse 4

• E – G♯m7 – F♯m7 – A – E – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – B7 – C♯m – G♯m7 – F♯sus4 – A – G♯m7 – F♯m – B – C♯m – A – E
  I – iii7 – ii7 – IV – I – ii7 – iii7 – V7 – vi – iii7 – IIsus4 – IV – iii7 – ii – V – vi – IV – I

Outro

• E
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Bm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• D (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1146, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.