Man Machine by Robbie Williams

Overview

Key: D Dorian · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 16

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• D – D7
  I – I7

Part 2 (0:02)

• G – D7 – D – D7 (×3)
  IV – I7 – I – I7
• G – D7 – D – F
  IV – I7 – I – bIII

Part 3 (0:16)

• G – F – D – F (×3)
  IV – bIII – I – bIII
• B♭ – G – D – F
  bVI – IV – I – bIII

Part 4 (0:30)

• G – F – D – F (×2)
  IV – bIII – I – bIII
• G – F – E – G7 – D – F
  IV – bIII – II – IV7 – I – bIII

Part 5 (0:44)

• G – B♭ – D – F – G – F – D – F – G – B♭ – D – F – G – D – F
  IV – bVI – I – bIII – IV – bIII – I – bIII – IV – bVI – I – bIII – IV – I – bIII

Part 6 (0:59)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:16).

Part 7 (1:13)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:30).

Part 8 (1:27)

• G – B♭ – D – F – G – F – D – F – G – B♭ – D – F – G – Am
  IV – bVI – I – bIII – IV – bIII – I – bIII – IV – bVI – I – bIII – IV – v

Part 9 (1:41)

• Em – C – G – Am – Em – C – D – F
  ii – bVII – IV – v – ii – bVII – I – bIII

Part 10 (1:56)

Same chords as Part 8 (1:27).

Part 11 (2:10)

• Em – C – G – Am – Em – C – Fmaj7
  ii – bVII – IV – v – ii – bVII – bIIImaj7

Part 12 (2:24)

• D – D7 – G – D7 (×3)
  I – I7 – IV – I7
• D – D7
  I – I7

Part 13 (2:38)

• G
  IV
• D7 – D – D7 – G/D (×3)
  I7 – I – I7 – IV⁶₄
• D7 – D – D7
  I7 – I – I7

Part 14 (2:52)

• G/D – D7
  IV⁶₄ – I7
• D – F – G – B♭ (×3)
  I – bIII – IV – bVI
• D – F
  I – bIII

Part 15 (3:06)

• G – B♭ – D – F (×2)
  IV – bVI – I – bIII
• G – D – F – G – B♭ – D – F
  IV – I – bIII – IV – bVI – I – bIII

Part 16 (3:21)

• C – G – D
  bVII – IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). Chord annotation of the original recording (I've Been Expecting You, 1998), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (I've Been Expecting You, 1998), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• 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.