Only Sixteen by Dr. Hook

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Solo → Bridge → Verse

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 – Dm – Gm – C
  I – vi – ii – V

Verse 1

• F – B♭ – C – B♭ – C – F – F/C (×2)
  I – IV – V – IV – V – I – I⁶₄

Verse 2

• F
  I
• B♭ – C (×2)
  IV – V
• F – F/C – F
  I – I⁶₄ – I
• B♭ – C (×2)
  IV – V
• F – F7
  I – I7

Bridge 1

• B♭ – C – F (×3)
  IV – V – I
• Dm – G7 – C
  vi – II7 – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Solo

• F
  I
• B♭ – C (×2)
  IV – V
• F – F/C – F
  I – I⁶₄ – I
• B♭ – C (×2)
  IV – V
• F – F7
  I – I7

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 4

• F – B♭ – C – B♭ – C – F – F/C (×2)
  I – IV – V – IV – V – I – I⁶₄
• F
  I
• B♭ – C (×2)
  IV – V
• F – B♭ – B♭m – F
  I – IV – iv – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• G7 acts as V/V: it resolves to C.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1190, 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.