One Way or Another by Blondie

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → 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

• D – B (×2)
  I – VI

Verse 1

• D – B (×2)
  I – VI

Chorus 1

• G – Bm – A – F♯m (×2)
  IV – vi – V – iii
• G – A – Bm – Em – F♯
  IV – V – vi – ii – III

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• F♯ – A – C♯m (×2)
  III – V – vii
• B – E – F♯ – A – B
  VI – II – III – V – VI

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• D – B (×8)
  I – VI
• D
  I

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0743, 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.