My Way by Elvis Presley

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → 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

• C – Fm/C – C
  I – iv⁶₄ – I

Verse 1

• C – Em – Gm6 – A – A7 – Dm – F/C – G7/B – G7 – C – C7/B♭ – F – Fm – C/G – G7 – F6 – C
  I – iii – v6 – VI – VI7 – ii – IV⁶₄ – V⁶₅ – V7 – I – I⁴₂ – IV – iv – I⁶₄ – V7 – IV6 – I

Verse 2

• C – Em – Gm6 – A – A7 – Dm – F/C – G/B – G – C – C7/B♭ – F – Fm – C/G – G7 – F6 – C
  I – iii – v6 – VI – VI7 – ii – IV⁶₄ – V⁶ – V – I – I⁴₂ – IV – iv – I⁶₄ – V7 – IV6 – I

Chorus 1

• C – C7/B♭ – F – Dm – G7 – Em – Am – Dm – G7 – F6 – C
  I – I⁴₂ – IV – ii – V7 – iii – vi – ii – V7 – IV6 – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 2

• C – C7/B♭ – F – Dm – G7 – Em – Am – Dm7 – G7 – F6 – C
  I – I⁴₂ – IV – ii – V7 – iii – vi – ii7 – V7 – IV6 – I

Outro

• A♭6 – G7sus4 – C
  bVI6 – V7sus4 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Fm/C (iv⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• A♭6 (bVI6) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• A7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Dm.
• C7/B♭ acts as V/IV: it resolves to F.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0793, 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.