Break It to Me Gently by Juice Newton

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 32 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Bridge → Verse

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.

Key changes

• Verse 4 moves to F major.

Section by section

Intro

• E – Emaj7♯5 – A – Am6 – E – B – A – G♯m – F♯m
  I – Imaj7#5 – IV – iv6 – I – V – IV – iii – ii

Verse 1

• E – Eaug – Amaj7 – Am6 – E – G♯7 – C♯7♭9 – F♯7 – F♯m7 – B – A – G♯m – F♯m
  I – I+ – IVmaj7 – iv6 – I – III7 – VI7b9 – II7 – ii7 – V – IV – iii – ii

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 1

• A – G♯m – F♯m7 – B – Emaj7 – E7 – A – G♯m7 – C♯7 – F♯7 – B – A – G♯m – F♯m
  IV – iii – ii7 – V – Imaj7 – I7 – IV – iii7 – VI7 – II7 – V – IV – iii – ii

Verse 3

• E – Eaug – Amaj7 – Am6 – E – G♯7 – C♯7♭9 – F♯7 – F♯m7 – B7 – E – Eaug7
  I – I+ – IVmaj7 – iv6 – I – III7 – VI7b9 – II7 – ii7 – V7 – I – I+7

Bridge 2

• A – G♯m – F♯m7 – B – E – E7 – A – G♯m – F♯7 – B7 – C7
  IV – iii – ii7 – V – I – I7 – IV – iii – II7 – V7 – bVI7

Verse 4

• F – Faug – B♭maj7 – B♭m – F – A7 – D7♭9 – G7 – Gm7 – C7 – F – F7/E♭ – D7 – G7 – C7 – F – B♭ – B♭m6 – F
  I – I+ – IVmaj7 – iv – I – III7 – VI7b9 – II7 – ii7 – V7 – I – I⁴₂ – VI7 – II7 – V7 – I – IV – iv6 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Am6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• B♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• B♭m6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• F♯7 acts as V/V: it resolves to B.
• E7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to A.
• G7 acts as V/V: it resolves to C7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0303, 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.