Girls Just Want to Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper

Overview

Key: F♯ major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 17

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• F♯
  I

Part 2 (0:02)

• D♯m – B – C♯ – F♯ – D♯m – B – C♯
  vi – IV – V – I – vi – IV – V

Part 3 (0:16)

• F♯ – D♯m – B – D♯m – C♯ – B
  I – vi – IV – vi – V – IV

Part 4 (0:32)

• D♯m – C♯ – F♯ – D♯m – B – C♯ – F♯ – D♯m
  vi – V – I – vi – IV – V – I – vi

Part 5 (0:47)

• B – D♯m – C♯ (×2)
  IV – vi – V
• F♯
  I

Part 6 (1:03)

• D♯m – F♯ – D♯m – C♯ – B – D♯m – C♯ – F♯
  vi – I – vi – V – IV – vi – V – I

Part 7 (1:19)

• D♯m – B – C♯ – F♯ – D♯m
  vi – IV – V – I – vi

Part 8 (1:34)

• F♯ – D♯m – B – C♯ – F♯ – D♯m
  I – vi – IV – V – I – vi

Part 9 (1:49)

• B – D♯m – C♯ (×2)
  IV – vi – V
• F♯ – D♯m
  I – vi

Part 10 (2:05)

• F♯ – D♯m – C♯ – B – D♯m – C♯ – F♯
  I – vi – V – IV – vi – V – I

Part 11 (2:21)

• D♯m – B – C♯ – F♯ (×2)
  vi – IV – V – I
• D♯m – B – C♯
  vi – IV – V

Part 12 (2:34)

• F♯ – D♯m – B – C♯ (×3)
  I – vi – IV – V
• F♯
  I

Part 13 (2:47)

• D♯m – B – C♯ – F♯ (×3)
  vi – IV – V – I

Part 14 (3:00)

• D♯m – B – C♯ – F♯ (×3)
  vi – IV – V – I
• D♯m
  vi

Part 15 (3:12)

• B – C♯ – F♯ – D♯m (×3)
  IV – V – I – vi
• B
  IV

Part 16 (3:25)

• C♯ – F♯ – D♯m – B (×3)
  V – I – vi – IV
• C♯
  V

Part 17 (3:37)

• F♯ – D♯m – B – C♯ (×2)
  I – vi – IV – V
• F♯
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• The Part 11 (2:21) loops D♯m – B – C♯ – F♯ (vi – IV – V – I), a rotation of the ’50s progression (I–vi–IV–V family).

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Twelve Deadly Cyns), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Twelve Deadly Cyns), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.