Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology) by Marvin Gaye

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Chorus → Chorus ×4 → Solo

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

• B♭7sus4 – B7sus4
  bV7sus4 – V7sus4

Chorus 1

• Emaj7 – C♯m7 – F♯m7 – B7sus4
  Imaj7 – vi7 – ii7 – V7sus4

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• Fmaj7 – Dm7 – Gm7 – C7sus4 – Fm7 – Bm7
  bIImaj7 – bvii7 – biii7 – bVI7sus4 – bii7 – v7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Bm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0819, 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.