Old Before I Die by Robbie Williams

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 18 · Sections: 15

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• A – Em/A (×3)
  I – v (bass A)
• A
  I

Part 2 (0:14)

• Em/A – A – Em/A – F♯m/B – Em/A – A – Em/A – F♯m
  v (bass A) – I – v (bass A) – vi (bass B) – v (bass A) – I – v (bass A) – vi

Part 3 (0:30)

• F – G – A – Aaug – F♯m – G – A – F♯m – D
  bVI – bVII – I – I+ – vi – bVII – I – vi – IV

Part 4 (0:46)

• E – A – F♯m – D – G – A – F♯m – Bm
  V – I – vi – IV – bVII – I – vi – ii

Part 5 (1:03)

• Dm – A – Aaug – Bm – Dm – A – Em/A – A
  iv – I – I+ – ii – iv – I – v (bass A) – I

Part 6 (1:19)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:14).

Part 7 (1:35)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:30).

Part 8 (1:52)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:46).

Part 9 (2:08)

• Dm – A – Aaug – Bm – Dm – F♯m – D – A
  iv – I – I+ – ii – iv – vi – IV – I

Part 10 (2:24)

• B – F♯m – Dm/G – A – Aaug – F♯m – G
  II – vi – iv (bass G) – I – I+ – vi – bVII

Part 11 (2:40)

• C – Am – F – G – C – Am – F
  bIII – i – bVI – bVII – bIII – i – bVI

Part 12 (2:56)

• B♭ – C – Am – Dm – Fm – C – Caug – Dm
  bII – bIII – i – iv – bvi – bIII – bIII+ – iv

Part 13 (3:12)

• Fm – C – Am – F – G – C – Am – F
  bvi – bIII – i – bVI – bVII – bIII – i – bVI

Part 14 (3:28)

• G – C – Am – F (×2)
  bVII – bIII – i – bVI

Part 15 (3:44)

• G – C – Am – F – G
  bVII – bIII – i – bVI – bVII

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Em/A (v (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• F (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Dm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Dm/G (iv (bass G)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Am (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). Chord annotation of the original recording (Life Thru a Lens, 1997), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Life Thru a Lens, 1997), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• 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.