Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy by Queen

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 8

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

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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

• E♭ – A♭ – Gm – Cm – Fm – A♭
  I – IV – iii – vi – ii – IV
• B♭ – E♭ (×2)
  V – I
• A♭ – Gm – Cm – Fm – A♭m – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭
  IV – iii – vi – ii – iv – V7 – I – V

Chorus 1

• E♭ – B♭/D – Cm – Gm – A♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – Cm – G/B
  I – V⁶ – vi – iii – IV – I – V⁶ – vi – III⁶
• Cm – Gm (×2)
  vi – iii
• Fm – A♭m – B♭7 – E♭
  ii – iv – V7 – I

Verse 1

• A♭m – E♭/G – E♭7 – A♭m
  iv – I⁶ – I7 – iv
• G♭7 – C♭ (×3)
  bIII7 – bVI
• B♭ – E♭ – A♭ – Gm – Cm – Fm – A♭m – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭
  V – I – IV – iii – vi – ii – iv – V7 – I – V

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• E♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭m7 – F7 – B♭7 – C7 – Fm – A♭m – B♭7
  I – V7 – I – v7 – II7 – V7 – VI7 – ii – iv – V7

Solo

• E♭ – B♭/D – Cm – Gm – A♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – Cm – G/B
  I – V⁶ – vi – iii – IV – I – V⁶ – vi – III⁶
• Cm – Gm (×2)
  vi – iii
• Fm – A♭ – Gm – A♭m – E♭ – B♭/D – Cm – Gm – Fm – A♭m – B♭7
  ii – IV – iii – iv – I – V⁶ – vi – iii – ii – iv – V7

Verse 2

• E♭ – A♭ – Gm – Cm – Fm – A♭
  I – IV – iii – vi – ii – IV
• B♭ – E♭ (×2)
  V – I
• A♭ – Gm – Cm – Fm – A♭m – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭
  IV – iii – vi – ii – iv – V7 – I – V

Chorus 3

• E♭ – B♭/D – Cm – Gm – A♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – Cm – G/B
  I – V⁶ – vi – iii – IV – I – V⁶ – vi – III⁶
• Cm – Gm (×2)
  vi – iii
• Fm – A♭m – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭ – E♭
  ii – iv – V7 – I – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• C♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• B♭m7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• G/B acts as V/vi: it resolves to Cm.
• F7 acts as V/V: it resolves to B♭7.
• C7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Fm.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 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.