Better Man by Robbie Williams

Overview

Key: F♯ major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 9

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• F♯ – B – F♯
  I – IV – I

Part 2 (0:09)

• B – F♯ – D♯m – G♯m7 – C♯ – F♯ – D♯m – G♯m7
  IV – I – vi – ii7 – V – I – vi – ii7

Part 3 (0:34)

• C♯ – G♯m9 – C♯ – F♯ – D♯m – G♯m7 – C♯ – F♯
  V – ii9 – V – I – vi – ii7 – V – I

Part 4 (0:58)

• B – F♯ – D♯m – G♯m7 – C♯ – F♯ – D♯m – B
  IV – I – vi – ii7 – V – I – vi – IV

Part 5 (1:23)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:34).

Part 6 (1:48)

• A – D – C♯m – F♯m – A – D – G♯m
  bIII – bVI – v – i – bIII – bVI – ii

Part 7 (2:11)

• D♯m
  vi
• C♯ – F♯ – D♯m – G♯m7 (×2)
  V – I – vi – ii7

Part 8 (2:35)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:34).

Part 9 (3:00)

• F♯sus4 – F♯ – B – F♯
  Isus4 – I – IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♯ minor.
• D (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♯ minor.
• C♯m (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♯ minor.
• F♯m (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♯ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). Chord annotation of the original recording (Sing When You're Winning, 2000), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Sing When You're Winning, 2000), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• 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.