Beautiful by Carole King

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 41 · Sections: 12

Form: Chorus → Break → Verse → Bridge → Chorus → Break → Instrumental → Verse → Bridge → Chorus → Break → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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.

Key changes

• Verse 1 moves to C minor.
• Break 2 moves to E♭ major.
• Verse 2 moves to C major.
• Break 3 moves to E major.

Section by section

Chorus 1

• Cm – E♭7/B – A♭ – Fm7 – E♭/B♭ – Cm – F7 – A♭ – E♭/B♭ – Esus4
  vi – I7 (bass B) – IV – ii7 – I⁶₄ – vi – II7 – IV – I⁶₄ – #Isus4

Break 1

• E♭/B♭ – B♭dim/F – A♭/B♭
  I⁶₄ – v° (bass F) – IV (bass B♭)

Verse 1

• Cm – Cm/B♭ – Cm/A – A♭ – G – D9 – G
  i – i (bass B♭) – i (bass A) – bVI – V – II9 – V

Bridge 1

• Fm7 – E♭/G – F♯dim – G
  iv7 – bIII⁶ – #iv° – V

Chorus 2

• Cm – E♭7/B – A♭ – Fm7 – E♭/B♭ – Cm – F7 – A♭ – E♭/B♭ – Esus4
  i – bIII7 (bass B) – bVI – iv7 – bIII⁶₄ – i – IV7 – bVI – bIII⁶₄ – IIIsus4

Break 2

• E♭/B♭ – A♭/B♭
  I⁶₄ – IV (bass B♭)

Instrumental

• E♭ – D♭6 – A♭/C – A♭ – E♭/G – Fm7 – E♭/G – B7
  I – bVII6 – IV⁶ – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I⁶ – #V7

Verse 2

• C♯m – C♯m/B – C♯m/A♯ – A – G♯ – E♭9 – G♯
  #i – #i (bass B) – #i (bass A♯) – VI – #V – bIII9 – #V

Bridge 2

• F♯m7 – E/G♯ – Gdim – G♯
  #iv7 – III⁶ – v° – #V

Chorus 3

• C♯m – E7/B – A – F♯m – E/B – C♯m – F♯7 – E/G♯ – Am6 – F♯7/A♯ – A – E/B – C7 – F♯m7 – Gdim
  #i – III⁴₃ – VI – #iv – III⁶₄ – #i – #IV7 – III⁶ – vi6 – #IV⁶₅ – VI – III⁶₄ – I7 – #iv7 – v°

Break 3

• E/B – A/B
  I⁶₄ – IV (bass B)

Outro

• E – E7/D – A – A/G♯ – F♯m7 – E/B – C♯m7 – F♯7 – E/G♯ – Am – F♯7/A♯ – A – E/B – C7 – F♯m7 – Gdim – E/B
  I – I⁴₂ – IV – IV (bass G♯) – ii7 – I⁶₄ – vi7 – II7 – I⁶ – iv – II⁶₅ – IV – I⁶₄ – bVI7 – ii7 – biii° – I⁶₄

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Fm7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E♭/G (bIII⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Esus4 (IIIsus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• D♭6 (bVII6) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• G♯ (#V) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Am (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• E♭7/B acts as V/IV: it resolves to A♭.
• D9 acts as V/V: it resolves to G.
• E♭7/B acts as V/bVI: it resolves to A♭.
• E7/D acts as V/IV: it resolves to A.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 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.