Maneater by Daryl Hall & John Oates

Overview

Key: B minor · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Chorus ×2 → 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

• Bm – A – G – A (×3)
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII

Verse 1

• D – A/C♯ – C – B – Em7 – A – F♯7/A♯ – Bm – F♯m7 – Bm
  bIII – bVII⁶ – bII – I – iv7 – bVII – V⁶₅ – i – v7 – i

Verse 2

• D – A/C♯ – C – B – Em7 – A – F♯7/A♯ – Bm – F♯m7 – B
  bIII – bVII⁶ – bII – I – iv7 – bVII – V⁶₅ – i – v7 – I

Chorus 1

• Bm – A – G – F♯ – F♯7/A♯ – Bm – A – Em7 – G – Aadd9
  i – bVII – bVI – V – V⁶₅ – i – bVII – iv7 – bVI – bVIIadd9

Interlude

• Bm
  i

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• Bm – A – G – A (×3)
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII
• Bm – A – Em7 – F♯
  i – bVII – iv7 – V

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• Bm – A – G – F♯ – F♯7/A♯ – Bm – A – Em7 – G – Aadd9
  i – bVII – bVI – V – V⁶₅ – i – bVII – iv7 – bVI – bVIIadd9

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B (I) is borrowed from the parallel key, B major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0633, 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.