If I Could Turn Back Time by Cher

Overview

Key: B major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 16

Form: Intro → Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus ×2 → Interlude → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Chorus → Chorus

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.

Key changes

• Chorus 7 moves to D major.

Section by section

Intro

• B
  I

Chorus 1

• B – E – C♯m – F♯add11
  I – IV – ii – Vadd11

Verse 1

• F♯ – B – E (×4)
  V – I – IV
• F♯
  V

Pre-Chorus 1

• E – G♯m – F♯ (×2)
  IV – vi – V
• E/G♯ – F♯/A♯
  IV⁶ – V⁶

Chorus 2

• B – E – C♯m – F♯
  I – IV – ii – V

Chorus 3

• B – E – C♯m
  I – IV – ii

Interlude 1

• F♯ – B – E (×2)
  V – I – IV
• F♯
  V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Interlude 2

• F♯ – B – E (×5)
  V – I – IV
• F♯
  V

Pre-Chorus 3

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 6

Same chords as Chorus 3.

Chorus 7

• D – G – Em – A
  I – IV – ii – V

Chorus 8

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

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
B	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Interlude
E	IV	In the key	Chorus, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Interlude
C♯m	ii	In the key	Chorus
F♯add11	Vadd11	In the key	Chorus
F♯	V	In the key	Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Interlude
G♯m	vi	In the key	Pre-Chorus
E/G♯	IV⁶	In the key	Pre-Chorus
F♯/A♯	V⁶	In the key	Pre-Chorus
D	I (in D major)	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus
G	IV (in D major)	In the key	Chorus
Em	ii (in D major)	In the key	Chorus
A	V (in D major)	In the key	Chorus

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0843, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Cross-check: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Heart Of Stone), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Independently transcribed; it matches this page's chords closely (similarity 93%).
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.