Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da by The Beatles

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 12

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

• F – F7 – B♭
  V – V7 – I

Verse 1

• B♭ – F7 – B♭ – E♭ – B♭ – F7 – B♭
  I – V7 – I – IV – I – V7 – I

Chorus 1

• B♭ – Dm/F – Gm – B♭ – F (×2)
  I – iii⁶ – vi – I – V
• B♭
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 1

• E♭ – B♭ – B♭sus4 – B♭ – B♭9 – E♭ – B♭/F – F7
  IV – I – Isus4 – I – I9 – IV – I⁶₄ – V7

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

• B♭ – Dm/F – Gm – B♭ – F (×2)
  I – iii⁶ – vi – I – V
• Gm
  vi

Outro

• Gm – F – B♭
  vi – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
F	V	In the key	Intro, Chorus, Outro
F7	V7	In the key	Intro, Verse, Bridge
B♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Bridge, Outro
E♭	IV	In the key	Verse, Bridge
Dm/F	iii⁶	In the key	Chorus
Gm	vi	In the key	Chorus, Outro
B♭sus4	Isus4	Home chord (tonic)	Bridge
B♭9	I9	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	Bridge
B♭/F	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• B♭9 acts as V/IV: it resolves to E♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1107, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Cross-check: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo). Independently transcribed; it matches this page's chords closely (similarity 61%).
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• 2 chords were simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.