If You Really Love Me by Stevie Wonder

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 28 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → 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.

Section by section

Intro

• Am7 – Dm7 – Gm7 – Gm7/C (×2)
  iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass C)
• Am7 – Dm7 – Gm7 – Gm – F – E♭ – Gm7/C
  iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – ii – I – bVII – ii7 (bass C)

Chorus 1

• Am7 – Dm7 – Gm7 – Gm7/C (×4)
  iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – ii7 (bass C)
• B♭maj7 – Am7 – Gm7 – Fmaj7 – Em7♭5/G – A7♭9
  IVmaj7 – iii7 – ii7 – Imaj7 – viiø⁶₅ – III7b9

Verse 1

• Dmaj7 – A7 (×2)
  VImaj7 – III7
• Dm – Dm/C – Bdim – B♭m9 – E♭9 – Fmaj7 – Am7 – D7♯11 – G13 – G7 – G9
  vi – vi (bass C) – #iv° – iv9 – bVII9 – Imaj7 – iii7 – VI7#11 – II13 – II7 – II9

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

• B♭m7 – E♭m7 – A♭m7 – A♭m7/D♭ (×4)
  iv7 – bvii7 – biii7 – biii7 (bass D♭)
• C♭maj7 – B♭m7 – A♭m7 – D♭7sus4
  bVmaj7 – iv7 – biii7 – bVI7sus4

Chorus 4

• B♭m7 – E♭m7 – A♭m7 – A♭m7/D♭ (×7)
  iv7 – bvii7 – biii7 – biii7 (bass D♭)
• B♭m7 – E♭m7
  iv7 – bvii7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• B♭m9 (iv9) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• E♭9 (bVII9) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• B♭m7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• A7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Dm.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0631, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• 10 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.