Just Like Jesse James by Cher

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 11

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

• A♭ – E♭ – D♭ (×2)
  I – V – IV

Verse 1

• A♭ – E♭ – D♭ – E♭ (×4)
  I – V – IV – V

Pre-Chorus 1

• Fm – A♭ – B♭m
  vi – I – ii
• D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  IV – V

Chorus 1

• A♭ – E♭ – D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  I – V – IV – V
• A♭ – E♭ – Fm – D♭ – A♭ – E♭ – D♭
  I – V – vi – IV – I – V – IV

Transition 1

• A♭ – E♭ – D♭ – E♭
  I – V – IV – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 2

• A♭ – E♭ – D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  I – V – IV – V
• A♭ – E♭ – Fm – D♭ – A♭ – E♭ – D♭ – E♭
  I – V – vi – IV – I – V – IV – V

Transition 2

• A♭ – E♭ – D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  I – V – IV – V

Pre-Chorus 3

• Fm – A♭ – B♭m – D♭ – E♭ – D♭
  vi – I – ii – IV – V – IV

Chorus 3

• A♭ – E♭ – D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  I – V – IV – V
• A♭ – E♭ – Fm
  I – V – vi
• D♭ – A♭ – E♭ (×2)
  IV – I – V
• D♭ – E♭ – A♭ – E♭ – D♭ – E♭ – A♭ – E♭/A♭ – D♭/A♭ – E♭/A♭ – A♭
  IV – V – I – V – IV – V – I – V (bass A♭) – IV⁶₄ – V (bass A♭) – I

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0821, 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.