Can't Fight the Moonlight by LeAnn Rimes

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 20 · Sections: 11

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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)

• A5 – G5 – F5 – G5 – Bm – Em7 – A – G – Bm
  I5 – bVII5 – bVI5 – bVII5 – ii – v7 – I – bVII – ii

Part 2 (0:19)

• Em7 – A – Em7 – D – Em7 – D/F♯ – G
  v7 – I – v7 – IV – v7 – IV⁶ – bVII

Part 3 (0:39)

• Cm – Fm7 – B♭ – A♭ – G – Cm – Fm7 – B♭
  biii – bvi7 – bII – bI – bVII – biii – bvi7 – bII

Part 4 (0:59)

• A♭ – G – Fm7 – G – G/B – Bm – Em7 – A – G
  bI – bVII – bvi7 – bVII – bVII⁶ – ii – v7 – I – bVII

Part 5 (1:18)

• Bm – Em7 – A – Em7 – D – Em7 – D/F♯
  ii – v7 – I – v7 – IV – v7 – IV⁶

Part 6 (1:38)

• G – Cm – Fm7 – B♭ – A♭ – G – Cm – Fm7
  bVII – biii – bvi7 – bII – bI – bVII – biii – bvi7

Part 7 (1:57)

• B♭ – A♭
  bII – bI
• G – Fm7 (×2)
  bVII – bvi7
• G – Bm
  bVII – ii

Part 8 (2:17)

• Em – A
  v – I
• F♯m7 – E (×2)
  vi7 – V
• A
  I

Part 9 (2:37)

• Dm – Gm7 – C – B♭ – A – Dm – Gm7 – C
  iv – bvii7 – bIII – bII – I – iv – bvii7 – bIII

Part 10 (2:56)

• B♭ – A – Gm7 – A – Dm – Gm7 – C – B♭ – A – Dm
  bII – I – bvii7 – I – iv – bvii7 – bIII – bII – I – iv

Part 11 (3:16)

• Gm7 – C – B♭ – A – Gm7 – A
  bvii7 – bIII – bII – I – bvii7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G5 (bVII5) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• F5 (bVI5) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Em7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• G/B (bVII⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Em (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Dm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (I Need You), 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 (I Need You), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.