One Sweet Day by Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men

Overview

Key: D♭ major · Chords used: 18 · Sections: 10

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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 (0:01)

• D♭/F – A♭ – D♭maj9 – G♭add9
  I⁶ – V – Imaj9 – IVadd9

Part 2 (0:16)

• B♭m11/E♭
  vi11 (bass E♭)
• A♭ – D♭maj9 (×3)
  V – Imaj9
• G♭add9
  IVadd9

Part 3 (0:46)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:16).

Part 4 (1:16)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:16).

Part 5 (1:46)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:16).

Part 6 (2:16)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:16).

Part 7 (2:46)

• B♭m11/E♭ – C7sus4 – C7 – Fm – D♭maj7 – E♭9 – A♭maj7 – Gm7 – C7 – Fm – A♭/E♭ – D♭maj7 – B♭m7
  vi11 (bass E♭) – VII7sus4 – VII7 – iii – Imaj7 – II9 – Vmaj7 – #iv7 – VII7 – iii – V⁶₄ – Imaj7 – vi7

Part 8 (3:14)

• B♭m11/E♭
  vi11 (bass E♭)
• B – Emaj9 (×3)
  #VI – #IImaj9
• Aadd9
  #Vadd9

Part 9 (3:44)

• C♯m11/F♯
  #vii11 (bass F♯)
• B – Emaj9 (×3)
  #VI – #IImaj9
• Aadd9
  #Vadd9

Part 10 (4:14)

• C♯m11/F♯
  #vii11 (bass F♯)
• B – Emaj9 (×2)
  #VI – #IImaj9

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B (#VI) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• Emaj9 (#IImaj9) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• Aadd9 (#Vadd9) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• C♯m11/F♯ (#vii11 (bass F♯)) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• C7 acts as V/iii: it resolves to Fm.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Daydream), 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 (Daydream), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.