I Don't Need You by Kenny Rogers

Overview

Key: D♭ major · Chords used: 19 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). 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

• D♭add9 – A♭7/D♭ – D♭
  Iadd9 – V7 (bass D♭) – I

Verse 1

• D♭add9 – A♭/D♭ – A♭6/D♭ – G♭69 – D♭/G♭ – G♭69 – A♭ – G♭add9/A♭ – A♭6 – A♭9
  Iadd9 – V (bass D♭) – V6 (bass D♭) – IV69 – I (bass G♭) – IV69 – V – IVadd9 (bass A♭) – V6 – V9
• D♭add9 – A♭/D♭ (×2)
  Iadd9 – V (bass D♭)
• G♭add9 – D♭/F – E♭m11 – A♭ – G♭add9/A♭ – A♭6 – G♭/A♭ – D♭sus4 – D♭add9 – A♭/D♭
  IVadd9 – I⁶ – ii11 – V – IVadd9 (bass A♭) – V6 – IV (bass A♭) – Isus4 – Iadd9 – V (bass D♭)

Chorus 1

• D♭ – A♭/D♭ – D♭ – G♭ – D♭/G♭ – G♭ – A♭ – A♭7sus4 – A♭6
  I – V (bass D♭) – I – IV – I (bass G♭) – IV – V – V7sus4 – V6

Transition 1

• D♭add9 – A♭7/D♭ – D♭
  Iadd9 – V7 (bass D♭) – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Outro

• G♭ – D♭/G♭ – G♭6 – A♭ – A♭9 – A♭6 – A♭ – A♭6/D♭ – D♭
  IV – I (bass G♭) – IV6 – V – V9 – V6 – V – V6 (bass D♭) – I

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0494, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• 2 chords were simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.