It Won't Be Long by The Beatles

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 15 · Sections: 10

Form: Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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

Chorus 1

• F♯ – C♯m – E – C♯m – A – Gdim7 – E
  II – vi – I – vi – IV – biii°7 – I

Verse 1

• E – C (×2)
  I – bVI
• E
  I

Chorus 2

• C♯m – E – C♯m – A – Gdim7 – E
  vi – I – vi – IV – biii°7 – I

Bridge 1

• E – Baug/D♯ – Bm/D – C♯7 – A – B – F♯m7 – B
  I – V+⁶ – v⁶ – VI7 – IV – V – ii7 – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

• C♯m – E – C♯m
  vi – I – vi

Outro

• A – Gdim7 – E – G7 – F♯7 – F7 – Emaj7
  IV – biii°7 – I – bIII7 – II7 – bII7 – Imaj7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• Baug/D♯ (V+⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• Bm/D (v⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 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.