Lucille by Kenny Rogers

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → 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.

Key changes

• Verse 3 moves to C major.

Section by section

Intro

• B♭
  I

Verse 1

• B♭
  I
• F7 – Cm (×2)
  V7 – ii
• F7 – B♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – F7 – B♭
  V7 – I – I7 – IV – V7 – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 1

• E♭ – B♭ (×2)
  IV – I
• F7 – B♭
  V7 – I

Transition

• C
  II

Verse 3

• C
  I
• G7 – Dm (×2)
  V7 – ii
• G7 – C – C7 – F – G7
  V7 – I – I7 – IV – V7

Chorus 2

• F – C (×2)
  IV – I
• G7 – C
  V7 – I

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to E♭.
• C7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to F.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0731, 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.