Nightshift by Commodores

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 9

Form: Instrumental → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Instrumental → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → 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

Instrumental 1

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ – D♭add9 – A♭ – E♭
  I – vi – IV – V – IVadd9 – I – V

Verse 1

• A♭ – Fm
  I – vi
• D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  IV – V
• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ – D♭add9 – E♭
  I – vi – IV – V – IVadd9 – V

Pre-Chorus 1

• Fm – B♭m – E♭ – Fm – B♭m – D♭maj7
  vi – ii – V – vi – ii – IVmaj7

Chorus 1

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ – D♭ – A♭ – E♭ – A♭ – Fm
  I – vi – IV – V – IV – I – V – I – vi
• D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  IV – V
• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭
  I – vi – IV – V

Instrumental 2

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭
  I – vi – IV – V

Verse 2

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ – D♭add9 – E♭ (×2)
  I – vi – IV – V – IVadd9 – V

Pre-Chorus 2

• Fm – B♭m – E♭ – Fm – B♭m – D♭maj7 – A♭
  vi – ii – V – vi – ii – IVmaj7 – I

Chorus 2

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ – D♭ (×2)
  I – vi – IV – V – IV
• E♭ – Fm
  V – vi

Chorus 3

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ – D♭ (×2)
  I – vi – IV – V – IV
• A♭ – E♭ – A♭
  I – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0992, 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.