If You Leave Me Now by Chicago

Overview

Key: B major · Chords used: 20 · Sections: 13

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• B – F♯/A♯ (×3)
  I – V⁶
• B
  I

Part 2 (0:10)

• G♯m7 – D♯m7 – G♯m7 – C♯ – F♯ – B – Bmaj7
  vi7 – iii7 – vi7 – II – V – I – Imaj7

Part 3 (0:29)

• G♯m7 – D♯m7
  vi7 – iii7
• G♯m7 – C♯7 – F♯ – B (×2)
  vi7 – II7 – V – I
• F♯
  V

Part 4 (0:48)

• B – Emadd9 – Am/E – E – G♯m7 – E – F♯ – B
  I – ivadd9 – bvii⁶₄ – IV – vi7 – IV – V – I

Part 5 (1:07)

• A♯m7 – D♯7 – Emadd9 – Am/E – E – G♯m7 – E – F♯ – B
  vii7 – III7 – ivadd9 – bvii⁶₄ – IV – vi7 – IV – V – I

Part 6 (1:25)

• D♯m7 – G♯m7 – G♯m7/B – C♯m7 – Baug/D♯ – Baug/G – Em7/B – Em7/D – F♯ – Bmaj7 – G♯m7 – D♯m7
  iii7 – vi7 – vi⁶₅ – ii7 – I+⁶ – I+⁶₄ – iv⁴₃ – iv⁴₂ – V – Imaj7 – vi7 – iii7

Part 7 (1:42)

• G♯m7 – C♯ – F♯ – B – G♯m7 – C♯7
  vi7 – II – V – I – vi7 – II7
• F♯ – B (×2)
  V – I
• Emadd9
  ivadd9

Part 8 (2:01)

• Am/E – E – G♯m7 – E – F♯ – B – A♯m7 – D♯7 – Emadd9
  bvii⁶₄ – IV – vi7 – IV – V – I – vii7 – III7 – ivadd9

Part 9 (2:19)

• Am/E – E – G♯m7 – E – F♯ – B – D♯m – F♯ – G♯m7
  bvii⁶₄ – IV – vi7 – IV – V – I – iii – V – vi7

Part 10 (2:38)

• G♯m7/B – C♯m7 – Baug/D♯ – Baug/G – Em7/B – Em7/D – F♯ – B – G♯m7 – D♯m7
  vi⁶₅ – ii7 – I+⁶ – I+⁶₄ – iv⁴₃ – iv⁴₂ – V – I – vi7 – iii7

Part 11 (2:55)

• G♯m7 – C♯ – F♯ – B (×3)
  vi7 – II – V – I

Part 12 (3:13)

• G♯m7 – C♯ – F♯ – B (×2)
  vi7 – II – V – I
• G♯m7 – C♯ – F♯
  vi7 – II – V

Part 13 (3:31)

• B – G♯m7 – C♯ – F♯ (×2)
  I – vi7 – II – V
• B – G♯m7 – C♯
  I – vi7 – II

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Emadd9 (ivadd9) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• Em7/B (iv⁴₃) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• Em7/D (iv⁴₂) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• C♯ acts as V/V: it resolves to F♯.
• C♯7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F♯.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Chicago X), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Chicago X), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.