Maggie May by Rod Stewart

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 16 · Sections: 18

Form: Intro → Intro → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Solo → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Solo → Interlude → 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 1

• Am – G (×8)
  v – IV
• Am
  v
• Em – D – Em – Bm – Em – G – A – B (×2)
  ii – I – ii – vi – ii – IV – V – VI
• E
  II

Intro 2

• Dsus2 – Em11(no5) – G – D5 – Dsus4 – Dsus2 – Em11(no5) – G – D5 – Em7
  Isus2 – ii11(no5) – IV – I5 – Isus4 – Isus2 – ii11(no5) – IV – I5 – ii7

Verse 1

• A – G – D (×2)
  V – IV – I

Pre-Chorus 1

• G – D – G – A – Em – F♯m7/E – Em – Dsus2/E
  IV – I – IV – V – ii – iii⁴₂ – ii – Isus2 (bass E)

Chorus 1

• Em – A (×3)
  ii – V
• D
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

• G – D – G – A – Em – F♯m7 – Em – Dsus2/E
  IV – I – IV – V – ii – iii7 – ii – Isus2 (bass E)

Chorus 2

• Em – A (×3)
  ii – V
• Dsus4 – D
  Isus4 – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 3

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 2.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Solo 1

• Em – A – D – G – Em – G – D
  ii – V – I – IV – ii – IV – I

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 4

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 2.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Solo 2

• Em – A – D – G – Em – G – D – Em – A – D – G – Em – G
  ii – V – I – IV – ii – IV – I – ii – V – I – IV – ii – IV

Interlude

• Dsus2 – Em11(no5) – G – D5 – Dsus4 (×5)
  Isus2 – ii11(no5) – IV – I5 – Isus4

Outro

• Dsus2 – Em11(no5) – G – D5 – Dsus4 (×6)
  Isus2 – ii11(no5) – IV – I5 – Isus4

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Am	v	Borrowed from D minor	Intro
G	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Solo, Interlude, Outro
Em	ii	In the key	Intro, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Solo
D	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Solo
Bm	vi	In the key	Intro
A	V	In the key	Intro, Verse, Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Solo
B	VI	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	Intro
E	II	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro
Dsus2	Isus2	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Interlude, Outro
Em11(no5)	ii11(no5)	In the key	Intro, Interlude, Outro
D5	I5	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Interlude, Outro
Dsus4	Isus4	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Chorus, Interlude, Outro
Em7	ii7	In the key	Intro
F♯m7/E	iii⁴₂	In the key	Pre-Chorus
Dsus2/E	Isus2 (bass E)	Home chord (tonic)	Pre-Chorus
F♯m7	iii7	In the key	Pre-Chorus

Harmonic highlights

• Am (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• B acts as V/ii: it resolves to Em.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0100, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page. Independently transcribed; it matches this page's chords closely (similarity 64%).
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.