Handsome Man by Robbie Williams

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 23

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). 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)

• D – Em
  I – ii

Part 2 (0:04)

• G – A – D – Em (×2)
  IV – V – I – ii

Part 3 (0:14)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:04).

Part 4 (0:25)

• G – A – D – Em – G – A – Bm – D
  IV – V – I – ii – IV – V – vi – I

Part 5 (0:35)

• Bm – D – C – A – D
  vi – I – bVII – V – I

Part 6 (0:46)

• G – Em – A – D (×2)
  IV – ii – V – I

Part 7 (0:56)

• G – Em – A – C – A – D
  IV – ii – V – bVII – V – I

Part 8 (1:07)

• Em – G – A – D (×2)
  ii – IV – V – I

Part 9 (1:17)

Same chords as Part 8 (1:07).

Part 10 (1:28)

• Em – G – A – D – Em – G – A – Bm
  ii – IV – V – I – ii – IV – V – vi

Part 11 (1:38)

• D – Bm – D – C – A
  I – vi – I – bVII – V

Part 12 (1:49)

• D – G – Em – A – D – G – Em
  I – IV – ii – V – I – IV – ii

Part 13 (1:59)

• A – D – G – Em – A – C – A
  V – I – IV – ii – V – bVII – V

Part 14 (2:10)

• B♭ – C – D
  bVI – bVII – I

Part 15 (2:20)

• B♭ – C – B – B♭
  bVI – bVII – VI – bVI

Part 16 (2:31)

Same chords as Part 12 (1:49).

Part 17 (2:41)

Same chords as Part 13 (1:59).

Part 18 (2:51)

• E♭ – A♭ – Fm – B♭ – E♭ – A♭ – Fm
  bII – bV – biii – bVI – bII – bV – biii

Part 19 (3:02)

• B♭ – E♭ – A♭ – Fm – B♭ – D♭ – B♭
  bVI – bII – bV – biii – bVI – bI – bVI

Part 20 (3:12)

Same chords as Part 18 (2:51).

Part 21 (3:23)

• B♭ – E♭ – A♭ – Fm – B♭ – D♭
  bVI – bII – bV – biii – bVI – bI

Part 22 (3:33)

• D♭
  bI

Part 23 (3:44)

• E♭
  bII

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• B♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). Chord annotation of the original recording (Escapology, 2002), 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 (Escapology, 2002), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• 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.