Blue Jay Way by The Beatles
Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 10 steps · 2 unique chords · 1960s
C
Whole song transcribed by
Harmonic Analysis & Structure
Overview
Key: C major · Chords used: 2 · Sections: 7
Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus
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.
Section by section
Intro
- C – D♯dim7
I – #ii°7
Verse 1
- C – D♯dim7 (×2)
I – #ii°7 - C
I
Chorus 1
- C – D♯dim7
I – #ii°7
Verse 2
- C – D♯dim7 (×2)
I – #ii°7
Chorus 2
Same chords as Chorus 1.
Verse 3
Same chords as Verse 1.
Chorus 3
- C
I
Chord vocabulary
| Chord | Roman numeral | Role | Heard in |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | I | Home chord (tonic) | Intro, Verse, Chorus |
| D♯dim7 | #ii°7 | Outside the key (chromatic) | Intro, Verse, Chorus |
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.
Sources & Accuracy
Every chord on this page comes from the expert transcription listed first below. Piano voicings are our arrangement of the reported chord symbols, not a note-for-note transcription.
- the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London)Expert transcription
Annotated from the original recording by trained musicians for a published research dataset.
Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo).
All Piano Voicings
| # | Section | Chord | Left hand | Right hand | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Intro | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 2 | Intro | D♯dim7 | D♯2, D♯3 | C4, F♯4, A4 | — |
| 3 | Verse 1, part 1 (×2) | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 4 | Verse 1, part 1 (×2) | D♯dim7 | D♯2, D♯3 | C4, F♯4, A4 | — |
| 5 | Verse 1, part 2 | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 6 | Chorus 1 | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 7 | Chorus 1 | D♯dim7 | D♯2, D♯3 | C4, F♯4, A4 | — |
| 8 | Verse 2 (×2) | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |
| 9 | Verse 2 (×2) | D♯dim7 | D♯2, D♯3 | C4, F♯4, A4 | — |
| 10 | Chorus 3 | C | C2, G2 | C4, E4, G4 | — |