Don't Ask Me Why by Billy Joel

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Solo → 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

Intro

• B♭ – E♭7/B♭ (×6)
  I – IV⁴₃

Verse 1

• B♭ – C7 – F7 – B♭ – E♭/B♭ – B♭ – C7 – F7 – B♭ – D7/A
  I – II7 – V7 – I – IV⁶₄ – I – II7 – V7 – I – III⁴₃

Chorus 1

• Gm – B♭7/F – Em7♭5 – F7sus4
  vi – I⁴₃ – #ivø7 – V7sus4
• B♭ – E♭7/B♭ (×4)
  I – IV⁴₃

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• F – E♭ – F – B♭ – G – C – G – C7 – F7
  V – IV – V – I – VI – II – VI – II7 – V7

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• F – E♭ – F – B♭ – G – C – G – C7 – F7
  V – IV – V – I – VI – II – VI – II7 – V7

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• B♭ – E♭7/B♭ (×3)
  I – IV⁴₃
• B♭
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0969, 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.