Don't Leave Me This Way by Thelma Houston

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 15 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → 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

• Cm11 – Cm7 – A♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – Cm – E♭/B♭ – Cm – A♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – Cm – E♭/B♭ – B♭7
  i11 – i7 – bVI – bIII – bVII⁶ – i – bIII⁶₄ – i – bVI – bIII – bVII⁶ – i – bIII⁶₄ – bVII7

Verse 1

• Cm7 – F – B♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭ – Cm – Fmadd9 – B♭sus4 (×2)
  i7 – IV – bVII – bVII7 – bIII – bVII – i – ivadd9 – bVIIsus4
• C
  I

Chorus 1

• C – B♭ – F (×6)
  I – bVII – IV
• G
  V

Verse 2

• Cm7 – F – B♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭ – Cm – Fmadd9 – B♭sus4 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – Cm7 – F – B♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭ – Cm – Fmadd9 – B♭sus4 – C
  i7 – IV – bVII – bVII7 – bIII – bVII – i – ivadd9 – bVIIsus4 – i7 – iv7 – bVII7 – i7 – IV – bVII – bVII7 – bIII – bVII – i – ivadd9 – bVIIsus4 – I

Chorus 2

• C – B♭ – F (×8)
  I – bVII – IV

Outro

• C – B♭ – F (×14)
  I – bVII – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Cm11 (i11) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Cm7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• A♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭/D (bVII⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Cm (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E♭/B♭ (bIII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fmadd9 (ivadd9) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭sus4 (bVIIsus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fm7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1086, 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.