Lady by Kenny Rogers

Overview

Key: E♭ minor · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → 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

• E♭m
  i

Verse 1

• E♭m – A♭m/E♭ – D♭/E♭ (×4)
  i – iv⁶₄ – bVII (bass E♭)
• E♭m
  i

Chorus 1

• A♭m – B♭m – E♭m – C♭ – B♭m – E♭sus4 – E♭ (×2)
  iv – v – i – bVI – v – Isus4 – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• C♭ – D♭7/C♭ – G♭ – D♭/F – E♭m – E♭m/D♭ (×3)
  bVI – bVII⁴₂ – bIII – bVII⁶ – i – i (bass D♭)
• C♭ – B♭m – A♭m – D♭7sus4
  bVI – v – iv – bVII7sus4

Outro

• E♭m – A♭/E♭ – D♭/E♭ – E♭m
  i – IV⁶₄ – bVII (bass E♭) – i

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E♭ (I) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ major.
• A♭/E♭ (IV⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1258, 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.