On and on and On by ABBA

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Instrumental → 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

• C
  I
• F7 – C7 (×2)
  IV7 – I7

Verse 1

• C – B♭ (×2)
  I – bVII
• C
  I
• Fsus4 – F (×2)
  IVsus4 – IV
• C – B♭ – Csus4 – C – B♭ – F – Cadd9
  I – bVII – Isus4 – I – bVII – IV – Iadd9
• C – B♭ (×2)
  I – bVII
• C – Fsus4 – F – Fsus4 – F – C – B♭ – Csus4 – C – B♭ – F (×2)
  I – IVsus4 – IV – IVsus4 – IV – I – bVII – Isus4 – I – bVII – IV

Chorus 1

• C7 – F7 (×2)
  I7 – IV7
• C7
  I7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Instrumental

• C7 – F7 – C7
  I7 – IV7 – I7

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fsus4 (IVsus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0894, 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.