Never Can Say Goodbye by The Jackson 5

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → B Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → B Section ×3

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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

• Em7
  ii7

A Section 1

• Em7 – A7sus4 (×2)
  ii7 – V7sus4
• Dmaj7 – Dm7 (×2)
  Imaj7 – i7
• Dmaj7 – Am – Dmaj7 – Gmaj7 – Em – Em/A
  Imaj7 – v – Imaj7 – IVmaj7 – ii – ii (bass A)

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 1

• Dmaj7 – Dm7 – E7/D – E♭7/D – Dmaj7
  Imaj7 – i7 – II⁴₂ – bII7 (bass D) – Imaj7

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 3

• Dmaj7 – Dm7 – E7/D – E♭7/D – Dmaj7/G♭ – Dmaj7/G – Dmaj7/A♭ – Dmaj7/A
  Imaj7 – i7 – II⁴₂ – bII7 (bass D) – Imaj⁶₅ – Imaj7 (bass G) – Imaj7 (bass A♭) – Imaj⁴₃

B Section 4

Same chords as B Section 3.

B Section 5

Same chords as B Section 3.

B Section 6

Same chords as B Section 3.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Em7	ii7	In the key	Intro, A Section
A7sus4	V7sus4	In the key	A Section
Dmaj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, B Section
Dm7	i7	Borrowed from D minor	A Section, B Section
Am	v	Borrowed from D minor	A Section
Gmaj7	IVmaj7	In the key	A Section
Em	ii	In the key	A Section
Em/A	ii (bass A)	In the key	A Section
E7/D	II⁴₂	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
E♭7/D	bII7 (bass D)	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Dmaj7/G♭	Imaj⁶₅	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
Dmaj7/G	Imaj7 (bass G)	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
Dmaj7/A♭	Imaj7 (bass A♭)	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Dmaj7/A	Imaj⁴₃	Home chord (tonic)	B Section

Harmonic highlights

• Dm7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Am (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Never Can Say Goodbye - Jackson 5 V” (credited “Davis Clifton”, style Moderately Slow) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Never Can Say Goodbye” (credited “Gaynor Gloria”, style Disco) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 76%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.