Alive Again by Chicago

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Solo → Verse

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

• B♭5 – B♭ – A♭ – E♭/G – A♭ – B♭ – A♭ – E♭/G – E♭ – B♭ – F
  I5 – I – bVII – IV⁶ – bVII – I – bVII – IV⁶ – IV – I – V

Verse 1

• B♭ – F – F6 – F9
  I – V – V6 – V9

Chorus 1

• B♭ – Dm7 – D♭m7 – Cm7 – E♭ – F7 – B♭ – Gm7 – F – E♭ – F
  I – iii7 – biii7 – ii7 – IV – V7 – I – vi7 – V – IV – V

Interlude 1

• A♭ – E♭/G – B♭ (×2)
  bVII – IV⁶ – I
• A♭ – E♭/G – F7sus4
  bVII – IV⁶ – V7sus4

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 2

Same chords as Interlude 1.

Solo

• B♭ – Gm7 – F
  I – vi7 – V

Verse 3

• B♭ – Gm7 – F (×4)
  I – vi7 – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1240, 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.