Dancing Queen by ABBA

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Chorus → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Chorus

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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

• A – D/A (×3)
  I – IV⁶₄
• A – D/F♯ – A/E
  I – IV⁶ – I⁶₄

Chorus 1

• E – C♯ – F♯m – B/D♯ – D – Bm – A – D/A – A
  V – III – vi – II⁶ – IV – ii – I – IV⁶₄ – I

Verse 1

• A – D/A – A
  I – IV⁶₄ – I
• F♯m – E (×2)
  vi – V
• F♯m
  vi

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• Bm – E
  ii – V
• A – D/A (×3)
  I – IV⁶₄
• A – D/F♯ – A/E
  I – IV⁶ – I⁶₄

Chorus 3

• E – C♯ – F♯m – B/D♯ – D – Bm
  V – III – vi – II⁶ – IV – ii
• A – D/A (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄
• A
  I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Chorus 5

• E – C♯ – F♯m – B/D♯ – D – Bm
  V – III – vi – II⁶ – IV – ii
• A – D/A (×7)
  I – IV⁶₄

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Chorus, Verse
D/A	IV⁶₄	In the key	Intro, Chorus, Verse
D/F♯	IV⁶	In the key	Intro, Chorus
A/E	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Chorus
E	V	In the key	Chorus, Verse
C♯	III	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	Chorus
F♯m	vi	In the key	Chorus, Verse
B/D♯	II⁶	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
D	IV	In the key	Chorus
Bm	ii	In the key	Chorus

Harmonic highlights

• C♯ acts as V/vi: it resolves to F♯m.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 92% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.