Lady (You Bring Me Up) by Commodores

Overview

Key: C minor · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 10

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

Section by section

Intro

• Cm7 – B♭ – A♭maj7 – Gm7 – Fm7 (×2)
  i7 – bVII – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7
• G7 – Cm7 – B♭
  V7 – i7 – bVII
• A♭maj7 – Gm7 – Fm7 (×2)
  bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7
• F/G – Fm7
  IV (bass G) – iv7

Chorus 1

• Cm7 – B♭ – A♭maj7 – Gm7 – Fm7 (×2)
  i7 – bVII – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7
• G7/B – Cm7 – B♭
  V⁶₅ – i7 – bVII
• A♭maj7 – Gm7 – Fm7 (×2)
  bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7
• F/G – Fm7
  IV (bass G) – iv7

Verse 1

• Cm7 – B♭ – Fm7 – Gm7 (×4)
  i7 – bVII – iv7 – v7
• E♭ – F
  bIII – IV
• Cm7 – B♭ – Fm7 – Gm7 (×3)
  i7 – bVII – iv7 – v7
• A♭maj7 – Gm7 – Fm7 – F/G – Fm7
  bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7 – IV (bass G) – iv7

Interlude

• A♭maj7 – Gm7 – Fm7 – F/G – Fm7
  bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7 – IV (bass G) – iv7

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• A♭maj7 – B♭/A♭ – A♭m7♭5 – Cm7 (×3)
  bVImaj7 – bVII (bass A♭) – bviø7 – i7
• Fm7 – B♭/A♭
  iv7 – bVII (bass A♭)

Chorus 4

• Cm7 – B♭ – A♭maj7 – Gm7 – Fm7 – Cm7 – B♭ – A♭maj7 – Gm7 – Fm7 – G7/B (×2)
  i7 – bVII – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7 – i7 – bVII – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7 – V⁶₅
• Cm7 – B♭ – Fm7 – Gm7 (×2)
  i7 – bVII – iv7 – v7

Outro

• Cm7 – B♭ – Fm7 – Gm7 (×2)
  i7 – bVII – iv7 – v7
• E♭ – F
  bIII – IV
• Cm7 – B♭ – Fm7 – Gm7 (×4)
  i7 – bVII – iv7 – v7
• E♭ – F
  bIII – IV
• Cm7 – B♭ – Fm7 – Gm7 (×4)
  i7 – bVII – iv7 – v7
• E♭ – F
  bIII – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F/G (IV (bass G)) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.
• F (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, C major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0716, 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.