I Really Don't Want to Know by Elvis Presley

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse

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

• C – G7 – C – Fmaj7 – C
  I – V7 – I – IVmaj7 – I

Verse 1

• C – F – C – E7 – F – F♯dim – C/G – Am – Fm/A♭ – G – G7 – C – F – C
  I – IV – I – III7 – IV – #iv° – I⁶₄ – vi – iv⁶ – V – V7 – I – IV – I

Verse 2

• C – F – C – E7 – F – F♯dim – C/G – Am – Fm/A♭ – G – G7 – C
  I – IV – I – III7 – IV – #iv° – I⁶₄ – vi – iv⁶ – V – V7 – I

Bridge

• C7 – F (×2)
  I7 – IV
• D7 – G – D7 – G7
  II7 – V – II7 – V7

Verse 3

• C – F – C – E7 – F – F♯dim – C/G – Am – Fm/A♭ – G – G7 – F – C
  I – IV – I – III7 – IV – #iv° – I⁶₄ – vi – iv⁶ – V – V7 – IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Fm/A♭ (iv⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• C7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to F.
• D7 acts as V/V: it resolves to G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0386, CC0), via ChoCo.
• 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.