Ebony Eyes by The Everly Brothers

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 4

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Verse

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

• A/B – Emaj7/B – B9 – E
  IV (bass B) – Imaj⁴₃ – V9 – I

Verse 1

• E – E/B (×2)
  I – I⁶₄
• B7 – E – A – E – B7 – E – E7 – A
  V7 – I – IV – I – V7 – I – I7 – IV
• E – E/B – A – E – B7 (×2)
  I – I⁶₄ – IV – I – V7
• E
  I

Verse 2

• E – E/B (×2)
  I – I⁶₄
• B7 – E – E/B – A
  V7 – I – I⁶₄ – IV
• E – B7 (×2)
  I – V7
• E – A (×2)
  I – IV
• E – B7
  I – V7

Verse 3

• E – E/B (×2)
  I – I⁶₄
• B7 – E – E7 – A – E (×2)
  V7 – I – I7 – IV – I
• A – E – E7 – A – E – B7 – E – Esus4 – E
  IV – I – I7 – IV – I – V7 – I – Isus4 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to A.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1116, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• 1 chord was simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.