Never Can Say Goodbye by Gloria Gaynor

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 8

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

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

• Fmaj7 – Dm7 – G7sus4 – C
  IVmaj7 – ii7 – V7sus4 – I

Verse 1

• Fmaj7 – G7sus4 (×2)
  IVmaj7 – V7sus4
• G7
  V7
• Cmaj7 – Cm7 (×3)
  Imaj7 – i7
• C7 – Fmaj7 – Dm7 – G7sus4
  I7 – IVmaj7 – ii7 – V7sus4

Chorus 1

• C – Cm7 – D/C – D♭maj7/C – C
  I – i7 – II (bass C) – bIImaj⁴₂ – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude

• Fmaj7 – Dm7 – G7sus4
  IVmaj7 – ii7 – V7sus4

Chorus 4

• C – Cm7 – D/C – D♭maj7/C – C – Cm7
  I – i7 – II (bass C) – bIImaj⁴₂ – I – i7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Cm7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• C7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to Fmaj7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0190, 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.