I Believe I Can Fly by R. Kelly

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 22 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Interlude → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Outro

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

• Pre-Chorus 3 moves to D♭ major.

Section by section

Intro

• C/G – Dm7♭5/A♭ (×4)
  I⁶₄ – iiø⁴₃

Verse 1

• C – Dm7♭5/C (×4)
  I – iiø⁴₂
• Eaug7
  III+7

Pre-Chorus 1

• Am7 – Dm7♭5/A♭ – C/G – G9 – G
  vi7 – iiø⁴₃ – I⁶₄ – V9 – V

Chorus 1

• C – Am7 – Fmaj7 – F/G – Eaug7/G♯ – Am7 – Dm7♭5/A♭ – C/G – Dm7♭5/A♭
  I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – IV (bass G) – III+⁶₅ – vi7 – iiø⁴₃ – I⁶₄ – iiø⁴₃

Interlude 1

• Am7 – F/G
  vi7 – IV (bass G)

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 2

• Am7 – Dm9 – C/E – F/G
  vi7 – ii9 – I⁶ – IV (bass G)

Pre-Chorus 3

• B♭m7 – E♭m7♭5/Bbb – D♭/A♭ – A♭9 – A♭
  vi7 – iiø⁴₃ – I⁶₄ – V9 – V

Chorus 3

• D♭ – B♭m7 – G♭maj7 – G♭/A♭ – Faug7/A – B♭m7 – E♭m7♭5/Bbb – D♭/A♭ – E♭m7♭5/Bbb
  I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – IV (bass A♭) – III+⁶₅ – vi7 – iiø⁴₃ – I⁶₄ – iiø⁴₃

Outro

• D♭/A♭ – E♭m7♭5/Bbb (×5)
  I⁶₄ – iiø⁴₃
• D♭
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
C/G	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Pre-Chorus, Chorus
Dm7♭5/A♭	iiø⁴₃	Borrowed from C minor	Intro, Pre-Chorus, Chorus
C	I	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Chorus
Dm7♭5/C	iiø⁴₂	Borrowed from C minor	Verse
Eaug7	III+7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse
Am7	vi7	In the key	Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Interlude
G9	V9	In the key	Pre-Chorus
G	V	In the key	Pre-Chorus
Fmaj7	IVmaj7	In the key	Chorus
F/G	IV (bass G)	In the key	Chorus, Interlude
Eaug7/G♯	III+⁶₅	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
Dm9	ii9	In the key	Interlude
C/E	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	Interlude
B♭m7	vi7 (in D♭ major)	In the key	Pre-Chorus, Chorus
E♭m7♭5/Bbb	iiø⁴₃ (in D♭ major)	Borrowed from D♭ minor	Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Outro
D♭/A♭	I⁶₄ (in D♭ major)	Home chord (tonic)	Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Outro
A♭9	V9 (in D♭ major)	In the key	Pre-Chorus
A♭	V (in D♭ major)	In the key	Pre-Chorus
D♭	I (in D♭ major)	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus, Outro
G♭maj7	IVmaj7 (in D♭ major)	In the key	Chorus
G♭/A♭	IV (bass A♭) (in D♭ major)	In the key	Chorus
Faug7/A	III+⁶₅ (in D♭ major)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus

Harmonic highlights

• Dm7♭5/A♭ (iiø⁴₃) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Dm7♭5/C (iiø⁴₂) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E♭m7♭5/Bbb (iiø⁴₃) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.

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 92% 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.