Getaway by Earth, Wind & Fire

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 11

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

• Fm
  i

Chorus 1

• F7♯9 – B♭m – Cm (×3)
  I7#9 – iv – v
• D♭maj7 – Fm
  bVImaj7 – i

Verse 1

• F7♯9
  I7#9

Bridge 1

• B♭m7 – A♭ – D♭maj9 – C7♯9 – B♭m7
  iv7 – bIII – bVImaj9 – V7#9 – iv7
• Cm7 – Dm7 (×2)
  v7 – vi7
• Em7
  vii7

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 2

• B♭m7 – A♭ – D♭maj9 – C7♯9 – B♭m7 – Cm7 – Fm7
  iv7 – bIII – bVImaj9 – V7#9 – iv7 – v7 – i7

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 3

• B♭m7 – A♭ – D♭maj9 – C7♯9 – B♭m7
  iv7 – bIII – bVImaj9 – V7#9 – iv7
• Cm7 – Dm7 (×2)
  v7 – vi7
• Em7 – Fm7
  vii7 – i7

Chorus 3

• F7♯9 – B♭m – Cm (×10)
  I7#9 – iv – v

Outro

• F7♯9 – B♭m – Cm (×9)
  I7#9 – iv – v

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Fm (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• B♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• Cm (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• D♭maj7 (bVImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• B♭m7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• A♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• D♭maj9 (bVImaj9) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• C7♯9 (V7#9) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• Cm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• Fm7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0735, 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.