Philadelphia Freedom by Elton John

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 19 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Transition → Chorus → 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

• B♭ – E♭ – D♭ – A♭/C (×2)
  I – IV – bIII – bVII⁶
• B♭
  I

Verse 1

• B♭ – C7 – D♭ – A♭/C – B♭ – F – B♭ – C7 – D♭ – A♭/C – B♭
  I – II7 – bIII – bVII⁶ – I – V – I – II7 – bIII – bVII⁶ – I

Pre-Chorus 1

• E♭ – E♭sus4 – E♭ – B♭ (×2)
  IV – IVsus4 – IV – I
• A♭7 – G7 – Cm9 – A♭7 – G7 – G♭7 – E♭
  bVII7 – VI7 – ii9 – bVII7 – VI7 – bVI7 – IV

Chorus 1

• B♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – Cm7 – B♭/D – E♭ – F – D7sus4 – D7 – Gm – Cm7 – B♭/D – E♭sus4 – E♭ – Cm7 – B♭/D – E♭ – C/E – F7 – E♭ – Dm – Cm7
  I – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I⁶ – IV – V – III7sus4 – III7 – vi – ii7 – I⁶ – IVsus4 – IV – ii7 – I⁶ – IV – II⁶ – V7 – IV – iii – ii7

Transition 1

• B♭ – E♭ – D♭ – A♭/C (×2)
  I – IV – bIII – bVII⁶
• B♭
  I

Verse 2

• B♭ – C7 – D♭ – A♭/C (×2)
  I – II7 – bIII – bVII⁶
• B♭
  I

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Chorus 3

• B♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – Cm7 – B♭/D – E♭ – F – D7sus4 – D7 – Gm – Cm7 – B♭/D – E♭sus4 – E♭ – Cm7 – B♭/D – E♭ – C/E – F7
  I – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I⁶ – IV – V – III7sus4 – III7 – vi – ii7 – I⁶ – IVsus4 – IV – ii7 – I⁶ – IV – II⁶ – V7
• E♭ – Dm – Cm7 (×3)
  IV – iii – ii7

Outro

• B♭ – E♭ – D♭ – A♭/C (×5)
  I – IV – bIII – bVII⁶
• B♭
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• A♭/C (bVII⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭sus4 (IVsus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• A♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• G7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Cm9.
• D7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Gm.
• C/E acts as V/V: it resolves to F7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0354, 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.