Paper Roses by Marie Osmond

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → 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.

Key changes

• Verse 2 moves to A major.

Section by section

Intro

• D♭ – A♭ – Fm – B♭m – E♭7 – A♭ – E♭
  IV – I – vi – ii – V7 – I – V

Verse 1

• A♭ – E♭7 – A♭ – D♭ – E♭7 – A♭
  I – V7 – I – IV – V7 – I

Chorus 1

• D♭ – A♭ – B♭m – E♭7 – A♭ – A♭7 – D♭ – E♭ – A♭ – Fm – B♭m – E♭7 – A♭ – E7
  IV – I – ii – V7 – I – I7 – IV – V – I – vi – ii – V7 – I – #V7

Verse 2

• A – E7 – A – D – E7 – A
  I – V7 – I – IV – V7 – I

Chorus 2

• D – A – Bm – E7 – A – A7 – D – E – A – F♯m – Bm – E7 – A
  IV – I – ii – V7 – I – I7 – IV – V – I – vi – ii – V7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to D♭.
• A7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to D.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1245, 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.