Imagine by John Lennon

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Bridge → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Bridge

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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 – F (×2)
  I – IV

Verse 1

• C – F (×4)
  I – IV

Pre-Chorus 1

• F – Am/E – Dm – Dm7/C – G
  IV – vi⁶₄ – ii – ii⁴₂ – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Bridge 1

• F – G – C – E (×3)
  IV – V – I – III
• F – G – C
  IV – V – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 3

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
C	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Bridge
F	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Bridge
Am/E	vi⁶₄	In the key	Pre-Chorus
Dm	ii	In the key	Pre-Chorus
Dm7/C	ii⁴₂	In the key	Pre-Chorus
G	V	In the key	Pre-Chorus, Bridge
E	III	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 97% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.