Breaking Up Is Hard to Do by Neil Sedaka

Overview

Key: B major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Chorus → Chorus → Bridge → Chorus → Bridge → 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

• B – G♯m – C♯m – F♯ (×3)
  I – vi – ii – V
• B – E6 – B
  I – IV6 – I

Chorus 1

• B – G♯m – C♯m – F♯ (×2)
  I – vi – ii – V
• B – E♭7/B♭ – G♯m – C♯7 – F♯7
  I – bIV⁴₃ – vi – II7 – V7

Chorus 2

• B – G♯m – C♯m – F♯ (×2)
  I – vi – ii – V
• B – E♭7/B♭ – G♯m – C♯7 – F♯7 – B
  I – bIV⁴₃ – vi – II7 – V7 – I

Bridge 1

• Bm – E (×2)
  i – IV
• A
  bVII
• Am – D (×2)
  bvii – bIII
• G – F♯
  bVI – V

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• B – G♯m – C♯m – F♯ (×4)
  I – vi – ii – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Bm (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• A (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• D (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• G (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• E♭7/B♭ acts as V/vi: it resolves to G♯m.
• C♯7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F♯7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0728, 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.