People Make The World Go Round by The Stylistics

Overview

Key: E minor · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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

• Em – Em11
  i – i11

A Section 1

• Em9 – Dm7 – Am7 (×2)
  i9 – bvii7 – iv7
• Em9
  i9

B Section 1

• Am7 – Bm – Am7 – Fmaj7 – Am7 – Bm – Am7 – F♯m7♭5 – B7 – Am7 – Em9
  iv7 – v – iv7 – bIImaj7 – iv7 – v – iv7 – iiø7 – V7 – iv7 – i9

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 3

• Am7 – Bm – Am7 – Fmaj7 – Am7 – Bm – Am7 – F♯m7♭5 – B7 – Am7 – Em9 – A7 – Am
  iv7 – v – iv7 – bIImaj7 – iv7 – v – iv7 – iiø7 – V7 – iv7 – i9 – IV7 – iv

A Section 4

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 4

• Am7 – Bm – Am7 – Fmaj7 – Am7 – Bm – Am7 – F♯m7♭5 – B7 – Am7
  iv7 – v – iv7 – bIImaj7 – iv7 – v – iv7 – iiø7 – V7 – iv7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Em	i	Home chord (tonic)	Intro
Em11	i11	Home chord (tonic)	Intro
Em9	i9	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, B Section
Dm7	bvii7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Am7	iv7	In the key	A Section, B Section
Bm	v	In the key	B Section
Fmaj7	bIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
F♯m7♭5	iiø7	In the key	B Section
B7	V7	In the key	B Section
A7	IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Am	iv	In the key	B Section

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “People Make The World Go Round” (credited “Stylistics(Creed-Bell) The”, style Soul) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “People Make The World Go Round” (credited “Stylistics The”, style Soul) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 69%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.