An Innocent Man by Billy Joel

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 14

Form: Intro → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Instrumental → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → 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

Intro

• C
  I

Verse 1

• C – Dm – F – G (×2)
  I – ii – IV – V
• C
  I

Bridge 1

• Gm7 – C/G – B♭/F – F – G
  v7 – I⁶₄ – bVII⁶₄ – IV – V

Verse 2

• C – Dm – F – G (×2)
  I – ii – IV – V

Chorus 1

• C – F/C – C – F/A – G/B – C – F/C – C – Dm7 – C/E
  I – IV⁶₄ – I – IV⁶ – V⁶ – I – IV⁶₄ – I – ii7 – I⁶
• B♭/F – F (×3)
  bVII⁶₄ – IV
• G – G/B
  V – V⁶

Instrumental

• C
  I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 2

• C – F/C – C – F/A – G/B – C – F/C – C – Dm7 – C/E
  I – IV⁶₄ – I – IV⁶ – V⁶ – I – IV⁶₄ – I – ii7 – I⁶
• B♭/F – F (×3)
  bVII⁶₄ – IV
• G – G/B – C – F/C – C – F/A – G/B – C – F/C – C – Dm7 – C/E
  V – V⁶ – I – IV⁶₄ – I – IV⁶ – V⁶ – I – IV⁶₄ – I – ii7 – I⁶

Transition

• Gm7 – C/G – B♭/F – F – G
  v7 – I⁶₄ – bVII⁶₄ – IV – V

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 3

• C – F/C – C – F/A – G/B – C – F/C – C – Dm7 – C/E
  I – IV⁶₄ – I – IV⁶ – V⁶ – I – IV⁶₄ – I – ii7 – I⁶
• B♭/F – F (×3)
  bVII⁶₄ – IV
• G – G/B – C – F/C – C – F/A – G/B – C – F/C – C – Dm7 – C/E – G
  V – V⁶ – I – IV⁶₄ – I – IV⁶ – V⁶ – I – IV⁶₄ – I – ii7 – I⁶ – V

Outro

• C
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Gm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭/F (bVII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0010, 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.