Carrie by Cliff Richard

Piano chords, voicings & structure breakdown · 84 steps · 16 unique chords · 1980s

Expert transcription. These chords come from a published research transcription of the original recording by trained musicians. A second independent transcription to cross-check against isn't available (or differs in places), so this page isn't marked verified.

Intro, part 1 (×2)Step 1 of 84

Csus2/D

LeftD2RightC4, D4, G4

Left hand Right hand Middle C (C4)Use ← / → arrow keys to step through chords

Whole song transcribed by

the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011)

Harmonic Analysis & Structure

Overview

Key: D minor · Chords used: 16 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Solo → 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

Csus2/D – D5 (×2)
bVIIsus2 (bass D) – I5
F/D
bIII (bass D)
C/D – D5 (×2)
bVII (bass D) – I5
F5/D – D5
bIII5 (bass D) – I5

Verse 1

Csus2/D – D5 (×2)
bVIIsus2 (bass D) – I5
F/D
bIII (bass D)
C/D – D5 (×2)
bVII (bass D) – I5
F5/D
bIII5 (bass D)
D5 – Csus2/D (×2)
I5 – bVIIsus2 (bass D)
D5 – F/D
I5 – bIII (bass D)
C/D – D5 (×2)
bVII (bass D) – I5
C5
bVII5

Chorus 1

Dm – C (×3)
i – bVII
B♭ – C – E♭add9 – Fadd9 – C9sus4 – D9sus4
bVI – bVII – bIIadd9 – bIIIadd9 – bVII9sus4 – I9sus4
Dm – C (×5)
i – bVII
B♭ – C – E♭add9 – Fadd9 – C9sus4 – D9sus4 – E♭9
bVI – bVII – bIIadd9 – bIIIadd9 – bVII9sus4 – I9sus4 – bII9

Transition

Csus2/D – D5 (×2)
bVIIsus2 (bass D) – I5

Verse 2

Csus2/D – D5 (×2)
bVIIsus2 (bass D) – I5
F/D
bIII (bass D)
C/D – D5 (×2)
bVII (bass D) – I5
F5/D – D5
bIII5 (bass D) – I5
C – B♭ (×2)
bVII – bVI
Am – B♭ – C – Dm – C
v – bVI – bVII – i – bVII

Chorus 2

Dm – C (×3)
i – bVII
B♭ – C – E♭add9 – Fadd9 – C9sus4 – D9sus4
bVI – bVII – bIIadd9 – bIIIadd9 – bVII9sus4 – I9sus4
Dm – C (×2)
i – bVII

Solo

Dm – C (×3)
i – bVII
B♭ – C – E♭add9 – Fadd9 – B♭9sus4 – C9sus4
bVI – bVII – bIIadd9 – bIIIadd9 – bVI9sus4 – bVII9sus4
Dm – C (×2)
i – bVII

Chorus 3

Dm – C (×3)
i – bVII
B♭ – C
bVI – bVII
E♭add9 – Fadd9 – C9sus4 – D9sus4 (×2)
bIIadd9 – bIIIadd9 – bVII9sus4 – I9sus4
E♭9
bII9

Outro

Csus2/D – D5 (×10)
bVIIsus2 (bass D) – I5

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Csus2/D	bVIIsus2 (bass D)	In the key	Intro, Verse, Transition, Outro
D5	I5	In the key	Intro, Verse, Transition, Outro
F/D	bIII (bass D)	In the key	Intro, Verse
C/D	bVII (bass D)	In the key	Intro, Verse
F5/D	bIII5 (bass D)	In the key	Intro, Verse
C5	bVII5	In the key	Verse
Dm	i	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus, Verse, Solo
C	bVII	In the key	Chorus, Verse, Solo
B♭	bVI	In the key	Chorus, Verse, Solo
E♭add9	bIIadd9	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus, Solo
Fadd9	bIIIadd9	In the key	Chorus, Solo
C9sus4	bVII9sus4	In the key	Chorus, Solo
D9sus4	I9sus4	In the key	Chorus
E♭9	bII9	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
Am	v	In the key	Verse
B♭9sus4	bVI9sus4	Outside the key (chromatic)	Solo

Sources & accuracy

Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0051, 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.

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 McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011)Expert transcription
Annotated from the original recording by trained musicians for a published research dataset.
Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0051, CC0), via ChoCo.

All Piano Voicings

#	Section	Chord	Left hand	Right hand	Sources
1	Intro, part 1 (×2)	Csus2/D	D2	C4, D4, G4	—
2	Intro, part 1 (×2)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
3	Intro, part 2	F/D	D2	C4, F4, A4	—
4	Intro, part 3 (×2)	C/D	D2	C4, E4, G4	—
5	Intro, part 3 (×2)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
6	Intro, part 4	F5/D	D2	C4, F4	—
7	Intro, part 4	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
8	Verse 1, part 1 (×2)	Csus2/D	D2	D4, G4, C5	—
9	Verse 1, part 1 (×2)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
10	Verse 1, part 2	F/D	D2	C4, F4, A4	—
11	Verse 1, part 3 (×2)	C/D	D2	C4, E4, G4	—
12	Verse 1, part 3 (×2)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
13	Verse 1, part 4	F5/D	D2	C4, F4	—
14	Verse 1, part 5 (×2)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
15	Verse 1, part 5 (×2)	Csus2/D	D2	D4, G4, C5	—
16	Verse 1, part 6	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
17	Verse 1, part 6	F/D	D2	C4, F4, A4	—
18	Verse 1, part 7 (×2)	C/D	D2	C4, E4, G4	—
19	Verse 1, part 7 (×2)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
20	Verse 1, part 8	C5	C2, G2	C4, G4	—
21	Chorus 1, part 1 (×3)	Dm	D2, A2	D4, F4, A4	—
22	Chorus 1, part 1 (×3)	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
23	Chorus 1, part 2	B♭	B♭2, F3	B♭3, D4, F4	—
24	Chorus 1, part 2	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
25	Chorus 1, part 2	E♭add9	E♭2, B♭2	B♭3, F4, G4	—
26	Chorus 1, part 2	Fadd9	F2, C3	A3, C4, G4	—
27	Chorus 1, part 2	C9sus4	C2, G2	B♭3, D4, F4, G4	—
28	Chorus 1, part 2	D9sus4	D2, A2	A3, C4, E4, G4	—
29	Chorus 1, part 3 (×5)	Dm	D2, A2	A3, D4, F4	—
30	Chorus 1, part 3 (×5)	C	C2, G2	G3, C4, E4	—
31	Chorus 1, part 4	B♭	B♭2, F3	B♭3, D4, F4	—
32	Chorus 1, part 4	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
33	Chorus 1, part 4	E♭add9	E♭2, B♭2	B♭3, F4, G4	—
34	Chorus 1, part 4	Fadd9	F2, C3	A3, C4, G4	—
35	Chorus 1, part 4	C9sus4	C2, G2	B♭3, D4, F4, G4	—
36	Chorus 1, part 4	D9sus4	D2, A2	A3, C4, E4, G4	—
37	Chorus 1, part 4	E♭9	E♭2, B♭2	B♭3, D♭4, F4, G4	—
38	Transition (×2)	Csus2/D	D2	C4, D4, G4	—
39	Transition (×2)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
40	Verse 2, part 1 (×2)	Csus2/D	D2	D4, G4, C5	—
41	Verse 2, part 1 (×2)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
42	Verse 2, part 2	F/D	D2	C4, F4, A4	—
43	Verse 2, part 3 (×2)	C/D	D2	C4, E4, G4	—
44	Verse 2, part 3 (×2)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
45	Verse 2, part 4	F5/D	D2	C4, F4	—
46	Verse 2, part 4	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—
47	Verse 2, part 5 (×2)	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
48	Verse 2, part 5 (×2)	B♭	B♭2, F3	B♭3, D4, F4	—
49	Verse 2, part 6	Am	A2, E3	A3, C4, E4	—
50	Verse 2, part 6	B♭	B♭2, F3	B♭3, D4, F4	—
51	Verse 2, part 6	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
52	Verse 2, part 6	Dm	D2, A2	D4, F4, A4	—
53	Verse 2, part 6	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
54	Chorus 2, part 1 (×3)	Dm	D2, A2	D4, F4, A4	—
55	Chorus 2, part 1 (×3)	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
56	Chorus 2, part 2	B♭	B♭2, F3	B♭3, D4, F4	—
57	Chorus 2, part 2	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
58	Chorus 2, part 2	E♭add9	E♭2, B♭2	B♭3, F4, G4	—
59	Chorus 2, part 2	Fadd9	F2, C3	A3, C4, G4	—
60	Chorus 2, part 2	C9sus4	C2, G2	B♭3, D4, F4, G4	—
61	Chorus 2, part 2	D9sus4	D2, A2	A3, C4, E4, G4	—
62	Chorus 2, part 3 (×2)	Dm	D2, A2	A3, D4, F4	—
63	Chorus 2, part 3 (×2)	C	C2, G2	G3, C4, E4	—
64	Solo, part 1 (×3)	Dm	D2, A2	A3, D4, F4	—
65	Solo, part 1 (×3)	C	C2, G2	G3, C4, E4	—
66	Solo, part 2	B♭	B♭2, F3	B♭3, D4, F4	—
67	Solo, part 2	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
68	Solo, part 2	E♭add9	E♭2, B♭2	B♭3, F4, G4	—
69	Solo, part 2	Fadd9	F2, C3	A3, C4, G4	—
70	Solo, part 2	B♭9sus4	B♭2, F3	A♭3, C4, E♭4, F4	—
71	Solo, part 2	C9sus4	C2, G2	G3, B♭3, D4, F4	—
72	Solo, part 3 (×2)	Dm	D2, A2	A3, D4, F4	—
73	Solo, part 3 (×2)	C	C2, G2	G3, C4, E4	—
74	Chorus 3, part 1 (×3)	Dm	D2, A2	A3, D4, F4	—
75	Chorus 3, part 1 (×3)	C	C2, G2	G3, C4, E4	—
76	Chorus 3, part 2	B♭	B♭2, F3	B♭3, D4, F4	—
77	Chorus 3, part 2	C	C2, G2	C4, E4, G4	—
78	Chorus 3, part 3 (×2)	E♭add9	E♭2, B♭2	B♭3, F4, G4	—
79	Chorus 3, part 3 (×2)	Fadd9	F2, C3	A3, C4, G4	—
80	Chorus 3, part 3 (×2)	C9sus4	C2, G2	B♭3, D4, F4, G4	—
81	Chorus 3, part 3 (×2)	D9sus4	D2, A2	A3, C4, E4, G4	—
82	Chorus 3, part 4	E♭9	E♭2, B♭2	B♭3, D♭4, F4, G4	—
83	Outro (×10)	Csus2/D	D2	C4, D4, G4	—
84	Outro (×10)	D5	D2, A2	D4, A4	—