Freeze-Frame by The J. Geils Band

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Instrumental → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Transition → 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

• C – B♭ – F (×2)
  I – bVII – IV

Instrumental

• C – B♭ – F (×2)
  I – bVII – IV

Verse 1

• C – B♭ – F (×4)
  I – bVII – IV
• G – F – G – A♭/G – A/G – A♭/G – G – A♭/G – B♭/G – B/G
  V – IV – V – bVI (bass G) – VI (bass G) – bVI (bass G) – V – bVI (bass G) – bVII (bass G) – VII (bass G)

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 1

• C – G
  I – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition

• C7
  I7

Verse 4

• C – B♭ – F (×6)
  I – bVII – IV
• G – F – G – A♭/G – A/G – A♭/G – G – A♭/G – B♭/G – B/G
  V – IV – V – bVI (bass G) – VI (bass G) – bVI (bass G) – V – bVI (bass G) – bVII (bass G) – VII (bass G)

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• C – B♭ – F (×8)
  I – bVII – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• A♭/G (bVI (bass G)) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭/G (bVII (bass G)) 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 1002, 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.