Phoenix From the Flames by Robbie Williams

Overview

Key: D♭ major · Chords used: 19 · Sections: 19

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• D♭ – Fm – E♭m – C♭ – D♭ – Fm – E♭m – A♭
  I – iii – ii – bVII – I – iii – ii – V

Part 2 (0:13)

• D♭ – G♭ – E♭m – A♭ – D♭ – G♭ – E♭m – F
  I – IV – ii – V – I – IV – ii – III

Part 3 (0:26)

• B♭m – Fm/A♭ – G♭ – D♭ – D♭7 – B♭m6/D♭ – G♭m/D♭ – D♭
  vi – iii⁶ – IV – I – I7 – vi6 (bass D♭) – iv⁶₄ – I

Part 4 (0:38)

• D♭7 – B♭m6/D♭ – G♭m/D♭ – D♭ (×2)
  I7 – vi6 (bass D♭) – iv⁶₄ – I

Part 5 (0:51)

• E♭ – G♭m/C♭ – D♭ – Fm – E♭m – C♭
  II – iv (bass C♭) – I – iii – ii – bVII

Part 6 (1:04)

• D♭ – Fm – E♭m – A♭ – D♭ – G♭ – E♭m – A♭
  I – iii – ii – V – I – IV – ii – V

Part 7 (1:17)

• D♭ – G♭ – E♭m – F – B♭m – Fm/A♭ – G♭ – D♭
  I – IV – ii – III – vi – iii⁶ – IV – I

Part 8 (1:29)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:38).

Part 9 (1:42)

• D♭7 – B♭m6/D♭ – G♭m/D♭ – D♭ – E♭ – G♭m/C♭
  I7 – vi6 (bass D♭) – iv⁶₄ – I – II – iv (bass C♭)

Part 10 (1:55)

• F♭ – A♭ – D♭m – D♭m7/C♭ – B♭dim
  bIII – V – i – i⁴₂ – vi°

Part 11 (2:07)

• A♭ – D♭ – F♭ – C♭ – G♭ – D♭ – F♭ – C♭
  V – I – bIII – bVII – IV – I – bIII – bVII

Part 12 (2:21)

• G♭ – D♭ – F♭ – C♭ – G♭ – A♭
  IV – I – bIII – bVII – IV – V

Part 13 (2:33)

• D♭7 – B♭m6/D♭ – G♭m/D♭ – D♭ – D♭7 – B♭m6/D♭ – G♭m/D♭
  I7 – vi6 (bass D♭) – iv⁶₄ – I – I7 – vi6 (bass D♭) – iv⁶₄

Part 14 (2:46)

• D♭ – D♭7 – B♭m6/D♭ – G♭m/D♭ – D♭ – E♭ – G♭m/Bbb
  I – I7 – vi6 (bass D♭) – iv⁶₄ – I – II – iv⁶

Part 15 (2:58)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:38).

Part 16 (3:12)

• D♭7 – B♭m6/D♭ – G♭m/D♭ – D♭ – E♭ – G♭m/Bbb
  I7 – vi6 (bass D♭) – iv⁶₄ – I – II – iv⁶

Part 17 (3:26)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:38).

Part 18 (3:38)

Same chords as Part 16 (3:12).

Part 19 (3:51)

• D♭
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• G♭m/D♭ (iv⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• G♭m/C♭ (iv (bass C♭)) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• F♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• D♭m (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• D♭m7/C♭ (i⁴₂) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• G♭m/Bbb (iv⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• F acts as V/vi: it resolves to B♭m.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Robbie Williams chord annotations (Di Giorgi et al., Politecnico di Milano, 2013). Chord annotation of the original recording (I've Been Expecting You, 1998), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (I've Been Expecting You, 1998), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• 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.