Greatest Love of All by Whitney Houston

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 20

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 (0:01)

• E – E7/D – C♯m – F♯m
  V – V⁴₂ – iii – vi

Part 2 (0:07)

• Bm – E – E7/D – C♯m – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Dadd9/E – A – Am6
  ii – V – V⁴₂ – iii – vi7 – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E) – I – i6

Part 3 (0:21)

• A6 – A7 – D – Dm6 – D6 – Dm6 – D – C♯m – F♯m
  I6 – I7 – IV – iv6 – IV6 – iv6 – IV – iii – vi

Part 4 (0:36)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:07).

Part 5 (0:51)

• A6 – A7 – D – Dm6 – D6 – Dm6 – D – C♯m7 – F♯m
  I6 – I7 – IV – iv6 – IV6 – iv6 – IV – iii7 – vi

Part 6 (1:05)

• Bm – Dadd9/E – D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – Dadd9/E – D – A/C♯
  ii – IVadd9 (bass E) – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E) – IV – I⁶

Part 7 (1:20)

• Bm7 – Dadd9/E – D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – Dadd9/E – E7/D – C♯m7
  ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E) – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E) – V⁴₂ – iii7

Part 8 (1:35)

• F♯m7 – Bm7 – E – E7/D – C♯m7 (×2)
  vi7 – ii7 – V – V⁴₂ – iii7

Part 9 (1:50)

• F♯m7 – Bm7 – Dadd9/E – A7 – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Em7
  vi7 – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E) – I7 – vi7 – ii7 – v7

Part 10 (2:04)

• A – A7/G – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Em7 (×2)
  I – I⁴₂ – vi7 – ii7 – v7

Part 11 (2:19)

• Gadd9/A – D – A – Am6 – A6 – A7 – D
  bVIIadd9 (bass A) – IV – I – i6 – I6 – I7 – IV

Part 12 (2:33)

• Dm6 – D6 – Dm6 – D – C♯m7 – F♯m – Bm – E – E7/D – C♯m7
  iv6 – IV6 – iv6 – IV – iii7 – vi – ii – V – V⁴₂ – iii7

Part 13 (2:48)

• F♯m7 – Bm – E – D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – Dadd9/E – D
  vi7 – ii – V – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E) – IV

Part 14 (3:03)

• A/C♯ – Bm7 – Dadd9/E – D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – Dadd9/E – E7/D
  I⁶ – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E) – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E) – V⁴₂

Part 15 (3:18)

• C♯m7 – F♯m7 – Bm7 – E – E7/D (×2)
  iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – V – V⁴₂

Part 16 (3:32)

• C♯m7 – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Dadd9/E – A7 – F♯m7 – Bm7
  iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E) – I7 – vi7 – ii7

Part 17 (3:47)

• Em7 – A – A7/G – F♯m7 – Bm7 (×2)
  v7 – I – I⁴₂ – vi7 – ii7

Part 18 (4:02)

• Em7 – Gadd9/A – D – E – E7/D – C♯m7 – F♯m7 – Bm7 – E – E7/D
  v7 – bVIIadd9 (bass A) – IV – V – V⁴₂ – iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – V – V⁴₂

Part 19 (4:16)

• C♯m7 – F♯m7 – Bm7 – E – E7/D – C♯m7 – F♯m7 – Bm7 – Dadd9/E
  iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – V – V⁴₂ – iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – IVadd9 (bass E)

Part 20 (4:31)

• D – A/C♯ – Bm7 – E7 – A
  IV – I⁶ – ii7 – V7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Dm6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Em7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Gadd9/A (bVIIadd9 (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• A7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to D.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Whitney Houston), 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 (Whitney Houston), 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.