If You Love Somebody Set Them Free by Sting

Overview

Key: D minor · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Verse → 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

• Dm
  i

Verse 1

• Dm7 – Dm7/A – G/A – G – Dm – Dm7/A – G/A – G (×4)
  i7 – i⁴₃ – IV (bass A) – IV – i – i⁴₃ – IV (bass A) – IV

Chorus 1

• Bm – G11 (×2)
  vi – IV11
• Dm7/A
  i⁴₃

Verse 2

• Dm7 – Dm7/A – G/A – G – Dm – Dm7/A – G/A – G (×2)
  i7 – i⁴₃ – IV (bass A) – IV – i – i⁴₃ – IV (bass A) – IV

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 2.

Bridge

• Gm11 – Fadd9 – C/E – C (×4)
  iv11 – bIIIadd9 – bVII⁶ – bVII

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 6

Same chords as Verse 2.

Outro

• Dm7 – Dm7/A – G/A – G – Dm – Dm7/A – G/A – G (×3)
  i7 – i⁴₃ – IV (bass A) – IV – i – i⁴₃ – IV (bass A) – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G/A (IV (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, D major.
• G (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, D major.
• Bm (vi) is borrowed from the parallel key, D major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0384, 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.