Bridge Over Troubled Water by Paul Simon

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 26 · Sections: 3

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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

• E♭ – Gm/B♭ – B♭ – A♭ – B♭/A♭ – Adim – Cm/B♭ – E♭/B♭ – B♭m6 – C7 – A♭ – A♭m6
  I – iii⁶ – V – IV – V (bass A♭) – #iv° – vi (bass B♭) – I⁶₄ – v6 – VI7 – IV – iv6
• E♭ – E♭7 – A♭/E♭ (×2)
  I – I7 – IV⁶₄

A Section 1

• E♭ – A♭/E♭ – E♭ – E♭7 – A♭ – D♭ – A♭ – E♭ – E♭maj7 – Fm7
  I – IV⁶₄ – I – I7 – IV – bVII – IV – I – Imaj7 – ii7
• E♭ – A♭ (×2)
  I – IV
• E♭ – B♭/D – Cm7 – B♭7 – E♭ – Gm/D – E♭7/D♭ – E♭7 – Fm7 – E♭7/G – A♭ – F7 – B♭ – B♭/D – E♭ – B♭ – A♭ – B♭/A♭ – Adim – Cm/B♭ – E♭/B♭ – C7sus4 – C7 – A♭ – Bdim – Cm – E♭ – B♭ – A♭ – B♭/A♭ – Adim – Cm/B♭ – E♭/B♭ – C7sus4 – C7 – A♭ – Bdim
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – V7 – I – iii⁶₄ – I⁴₂ – I7 – ii7 – I⁶₅ – IV – II7 – V – V⁶ – I – V – IV – V (bass A♭) – #iv° – vi (bass B♭) – I⁶₄ – VI7sus4 – VI7 – IV – #v° – vi – I – V – IV – V (bass A♭) – #iv° – vi (bass B♭) – I⁶₄ – VI7sus4 – VI7 – IV – #v°
• E♭ – E♭7 – A♭/E♭ (×3)
  I – I7 – IV⁶₄

A Section 2

• E♭ – A♭/E♭ – E♭ – E♭7 – A♭ – D♭ – A♭ – E♭ – E♭maj7 – Fm7
  I – IV⁶₄ – I – I7 – IV – bVII – IV – I – Imaj7 – ii7
• E♭ – A♭ (×2)
  I – IV
• E♭ – B♭/D – Cm7 – B♭7 – E♭ – Gm/D – E♭7/D♭ – E♭7 – Fm7 – E♭7/G – A♭ – F7 – B♭ – B♭/D – E♭ – B♭ – A♭ – B♭/A♭ – Adim – Cm/B♭ – E♭/B♭ – C7sus4 – C7 – A♭ – Bdim – Cm – E♭ – B♭ – A♭ – B♭/A♭ – Adim
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – V7 – I – iii⁶₄ – I⁴₂ – I7 – ii7 – I⁶₅ – IV – II7 – V – V⁶ – I – V – IV – V (bass A♭) – #iv° – vi (bass B♭) – I⁶₄ – VI7sus4 – VI7 – IV – #v° – vi – I – V – IV – V (bass A♭) – #iv°

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
Gm/B♭	iii⁶	In the key	Intro
B♭	V	In the key	Intro, A Section
A♭	IV	In the key	Intro, A Section
B♭/A♭	V (bass A♭)	In the key	Intro, A Section
Adim	#iv°	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section
Cm/B♭	vi (bass B♭)	In the key	Intro, A Section
E♭/B♭	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
B♭m6	v6	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro
C7	VI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section
A♭m6	iv6	Borrowed from E♭ minor	Intro
E♭7	I7	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	Intro, A Section
A♭/E♭	IV⁶₄	In the key	Intro, A Section
D♭	bVII	Borrowed from E♭ minor	A Section
E♭maj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section
Fm7	ii7	In the key	A Section
B♭/D	V⁶	In the key	A Section
Cm7	vi7	In the key	A Section
B♭7	V7	In the key	A Section
Gm/D	iii⁶₄	In the key	A Section
E♭7/D♭	I⁴₂	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
E♭7/G	I⁶₅	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	A Section
F7	II7	Secondary dominant (V/V)	A Section
C7sus4	VI7sus4	In the key	A Section
Bdim	#v°	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Cm	vi	In the key	A Section

Harmonic highlights

• A♭m6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• D♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• E♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to A♭/E♭.
• E♭7/G acts as V/IV: it resolves to A♭.
• F7 acts as V/V: it resolves to B♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (credited “Simon Paul”, style Even 8ths) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Artist as credited on the chart.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Bridge Over Troubled Water” (credited “Simon Paul”, style Pop Folk) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Artist as credited on the chart. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 92%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.