Hey Jude by The Beatles

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 25

Form: Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Interlude → Outro → Outro ×17

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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.

Key changes

• Bridge 1 moves to B♭ major.
• Verse 3 moves to F major.
• Bridge 2 moves to B♭ major.
• Verse 4 moves to F major.

Section by section

Verse 1

• F – C – C7 – F – B♭ – F – C – F
  I – V – V7 – I – IV – I – V – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 1

• F7 – B♭ – B♭maj7/A – Gm – Gm7/F – C/E – C – F (×2)
  V7 – I – Imaj⁴₂ – vi – vi⁴₂ – II⁶ – II – V
• F7 – C – C7
  V7 – II – II7

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude

• F
  I

Outro 1

• F – E♭ – B♭ – F
  I – bVII – IV – I

Outro 2

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 3

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 4

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 5

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 6

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 7

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 8

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 9

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 10

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 11

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 12

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 13

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 14

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 15

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 16

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 17

Same chords as Outro 1.

Outro 18

Same chords as Outro 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
F	I	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Interlude, Outro
C	V	In the key	Verse
C7	V7	In the key	Verse
B♭	IV	In the key	Verse, Outro
F7	V7 (in B♭ major)	In the key	Bridge
B♭	I (in B♭ major)	Home chord (tonic)	Bridge
B♭maj7/A	Imaj⁴₂ (in B♭ major)	Home chord (tonic)	Bridge
Gm	vi (in B♭ major)	In the key	Bridge
Gm7/F	vi⁴₂ (in B♭ major)	In the key	Bridge
C/E	II⁶ (in B♭ major)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
C	II (in B♭ major)	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Bridge
F	V (in B♭ major)	In the key	Bridge
C7	II7 (in B♭ major)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
E♭	bVII	Borrowed from F minor	Outro

Harmonic highlights

• E♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• C acts as V/V: it resolves to F.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 97% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.