Crying Time by Ray Charles

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 7

Form: Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → 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

Chorus 1

• A♭ – E♭7 – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭ – A♭7 – D♭ – E♭sus4 – E♭7 – A♭ – D♭ – A♭
  I – V7 – ii7 – V7 – I – I7 – IV – Vsus4 – V7 – I – IV – I

Verse 1

• A♭ – E♭7 – A♭ – A♭7 – D♭ – E♭sus4 – E♭7 – A♭ – D♭ – A♭
  I – V7 – I – I7 – IV – Vsus4 – V7 – I – IV – I

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude

• A♭7 – D♭ – E♭sus4 – E♭7 – A♭ – D♭ – A♭
  I7 – IV – Vsus4 – V7 – I – IV – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• E♭sus4 – E♭7 – D♭/A♭ – A♭
  Vsus4 – V7 – IV⁶₄ – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to D♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0748, 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.