Moonlight Shadow by Mike Oldfield

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 15

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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)

• E
  I
• B – C♯m – A (×2)
  V – vi – IV
• B – E – B
  V – I – V

Part 2 (0:15)

• C♯m – A
  vi – IV
• B – E (×2)
  V – I
• B – C♯m – A – B
  V – vi – IV – V

Part 3 (0:30)

Same chords as Part 1 (0:00).

Part 4 (0:45)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:15).

Part 5 (1:00)

• E – B – C♯m – A
  I – V – vi – IV
• B – E (×3)
  V – I
• A – B
  IV – V

Part 6 (1:15)

• E – B (×2)
  I – V
• E – A – B – C♯m – A – B – E – B
  I – IV – V – vi – IV – V – I – V

Part 7 (1:29)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:15).

Part 8 (1:45)

Same chords as Part 5 (1:00).

Part 9 (1:58)

• E – B (×2)
  I – V
• E – A – B – C♯m – A – B
  I – IV – V – vi – IV – V

Part 10 (2:11)

• E – B – C♯m – A
  I – V – vi – IV
• B – E (×2)
  V – I
• B – C♯m
  V – vi

Part 11 (2:26)

• A – B – E
  IV – V – I
• B – C♯m – A (×2)
  V – vi – IV
• B
  V

Part 12 (2:41)

Same chords as Part 10 (2:11).

Part 13 (2:56)

Same chords as Part 11 (2:26).

Part 14 (3:11)

Same chords as Part 10 (2:11).

Part 15 (3:26)

• A – B – E – B – C♯m – A – B
  IV – V – I – V – vi – IV – V

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Crisis), 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 (Crisis), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.