I've Passed This Way Before by Jimmy Ruffin

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 18 · Sections: 10

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

Key changes

• Chorus 2 moves to C major.
• Chorus 3 moves to D♭ major.

Section by section

Intro

• E♭ – F – B♭ – E♭ – F
  IV – V – I – IV – V

Verse 1

• B♭ – Dm – Cm/E♭ – Cm – E♭ – F (×2)
  I – iii – ii⁶ – ii – IV – V
• B♭
  I

Chorus 1

• B♭ – Dm – Cm/E♭ – Cm – E♭ – F (×2)
  I – iii – ii⁶ – ii – IV – V
• B♭
  I

Interlude 1

• E♭ – F
  IV – V

Verse 2

• B♭ – Dm – Gm – E♭ – F (×3)
  I – iii – vi – IV – V
• B♭ – Dm – Gm – G
  I – iii – vi – VI

Chorus 2

• C – Em – Dm/F – Dm – F – G (×2)
  I – iii – ii⁶ – ii – IV – V
• C
  I

Verse 3

• C – Em – Am – F – G (×4)
  I – iii – vi – IV – V

Interlude 2

• C – G – A♭
  I – V – bVI

Chorus 3

• D♭ – Fm – E♭m/G♭ – E♭m – G♭ – A♭ (×2)
  I – iii – ii⁶ – ii – IV – V
• D♭
  I

Outro

• D♭ – Fm – E♭m/G♭ – E♭m – G♭ – A♭ (×2)
  I – iii – ii⁶ – ii – IV – V
• D♭
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1044, 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.