Always on My Mind by Pet Shop Boys

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 11

Form: Solo → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Solo → Chorus → Bridge → Chorus → 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

Solo 1

• G – D – Em – D6 – C – D (×3)
  I – V – vi – V6 – IV – V
• C – D (×2)
  IV – V

Verse 1

• G – D – Em – D6 – C – D – G – D – Em – D6 – A
  I – V – vi – V6 – IV – V – I – V – vi – V6 – II

Chorus 1

• C – G – C – G/B – Am – G – D – G – C – D – B♭ – C
  IV – I – IV – I⁶ – ii – I – V – I – IV – V – bIII – IV

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 1

• G – D/F♯ – Em – D – C – G/B – Am – D (×2)
  I – V⁶ – vi – V – IV – I⁶ – ii – V

Solo 2

• G – D – Em – D6 – C – D (×2)
  I – V – vi – V6 – IV – V

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Chorus 4

• D – G – C – D – G (×2)
  V – I – IV – V – I
• D – G – C – D – B♭ – C
  V – I – IV – V – bIII – IV

Outro

• G – D – Em – D6 – C – D (×7)
  I – V – vi – V6 – IV – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0184, 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.