Just the Way You Are by Billy Joel

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 25 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Interlude → Verse → Interlude → Bridge → Verse → Interlude → Solo → Verse → Outro → 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.

Section by section

Intro

• Em7♭5/D – G/D – D (×2)
  iiø⁴₂ – IV⁶₄ – I

Verse 1

• D – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – Bm7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D – Am – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D – Bm7 – E7sus4 – E7 – A9sus4 – D – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – Bm7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Am – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Bm7 – Em – A9sus4
  I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – vi7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I – v – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I – vi7 – II7sus4 – II7 – V9sus4 – I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – vi7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – v – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – vi7 – ii – V9sus4

Interlude 1

• Em7♭5/D – G/D – D (×2)
  iiø⁴₂ – IV⁶₄ – I

Verse 2

• D – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – Bm7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Am – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Bm7 – E7sus4 – E7 – A9sus4 – D – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – Bm7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Am – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Bm7 – Em – A9sus4
  I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – vi7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – v – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – vi7 – II7sus4 – II7 – V9sus4 – I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – vi7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – v – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – vi7 – ii – V9sus4

Interlude 2

• Em7♭5/D – G/D – D – Em7♭5/D – Am7 – D7
  iiø⁴₂ – IV⁶₄ – I – iiø⁴₂ – v7 – I7

Bridge

• Gmaj7 – A7 – F♯m7 – B7sus4 – Em7 – A7 – D – D7/C – B♭maj7 – C7 – Am7 – D7 – Gm7 – Gm7/C – G/A
  IVmaj7 – V7 – iii7 – VI7sus4 – ii7 – V7 – I – I⁴₂ – bVImaj7 – bVII7 – v7 – I7 – iv7 – iv7 (bass C) – IV (bass A)

Verse 3

• D – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – Bm7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Am – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Bm7 – Em – A9sus4
  I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – vi7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – v – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – vi7 – ii – V9sus4

Interlude 3

Same chords as Interlude 2.

Solo

• D – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – Bm7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Am – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Bm7 – E7sus4 – E7 – A9sus4
  I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – vi7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – v – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – vi7 – II7sus4 – II7 – V9sus4

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 3.

Outro 1

• B♭ – C – Am7 – D7 – Gm7 – A7
  bVI – bVII – v7 – I7 – iv7 – V7

Outro 2

• D – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – Bm7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Am – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Bm7 – E7sus4 – E7 – A9sus4 – D – Bm7 – Gmaj7 – Bm7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – D/F♯ – Am – D7
  I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – vi7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – v – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – vi7 – II7sus4 – II7 – V9sus4 – I – vi7 – IVmaj7 – vi7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iv7 – I⁶ – v – I7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Em7♭5/D	iiø⁴₂	Borrowed from D minor	Intro, Interlude
G/D	IV⁶₄	In the key	Intro, Interlude
D	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Interlude, Bridge, Solo, Outro
Bm7	vi7	In the key	Verse, Solo, Outro
Gmaj7	IVmaj7	In the key	Verse, Bridge, Solo, Outro
D7	I7	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	Verse, Interlude, Bridge, Solo, Outro
Gm7	iv7	Borrowed from D minor	Verse, Bridge, Solo, Outro
Am	v	Borrowed from D minor	Verse, Solo, Outro
E7sus4	II7sus4	In the key	Verse, Solo, Outro
E7	II7	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Verse, Solo, Outro
A9sus4	V9sus4	In the key	Verse, Solo, Outro
D/F♯	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Solo, Outro
Em	ii	In the key	Verse
Am7	v7	Borrowed from D minor	Interlude, Bridge, Outro
A7	V7	In the key	Bridge, Outro
F♯m7	iii7	In the key	Bridge
B7sus4	VI7sus4	In the key	Bridge
Em7	ii7	In the key	Bridge
D7/C	I⁴₂	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
B♭maj7	bVImaj7	Borrowed from D minor	Bridge
C7	bVII7	Borrowed from D minor	Bridge
Gm7/C	iv7 (bass C)	Borrowed from D minor	Bridge
G/A	IV (bass A)	In the key	Bridge
B♭	bVI	Borrowed from D minor	Outro
C	bVII	Borrowed from D minor	Outro

Harmonic highlights

• Em7♭5/D (iiø⁴₂) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Gm7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Am (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Am7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• B♭maj7 (bVImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Gm7/C (iv7 (bass C)) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• B♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• D7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to Gmaj7.
• E7 acts as V/V: it resolves to A9sus4.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0240, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Cross-check: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (The Stranger), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Independently transcribed; it matches this page's chords closely (similarity 81%).
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.