Sad Eyes by Robert John

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 10

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

• Chorus 4 moves to D major.

Section by section

Intro

• C – Csus2 – Dmadd9 – Dm – Fmaj7 – F6 – C – Dmadd9 – Dm – Fmaj7 – F6 – F/G – C – Dmadd9 – Dm – Fmaj7 – F6 – C/G – F/G
  I – Isus2 – iiadd9 – ii – IVmaj7 – IV6 – I – iiadd9 – ii – IVmaj7 – IV6 – IV (bass G) – I – iiadd9 – ii – IVmaj7 – IV6 – I⁶₄ – IV (bass G)

Verse 1

• C – Dm/C – F/C – C – F/G – C – Dm/C – F/C – G7sus4 – G7
  I – ii (bass C) – IV⁶₄ – I – IV (bass G) – I – ii (bass C) – IV⁶₄ – V7sus4 – V7

Pre-Chorus 1

• Dm – F
  ii – IV

Chorus 1

• C – Cmaj7 – Dm7 – Fmaj7 – F6 – C – F/G (×2)
  I – Imaj7 – ii7 – IVmaj7 – IV6 – I – IV (bass G)

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• C – Cmaj7 – Dm7 – Fmaj7 – F6 – C – F/G (×2)
  I – Imaj7 – ii7 – IVmaj7 – IV6 – I – IV (bass G)

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

• D – Dmaj7 – Em7 – Gmaj7 – G6 – D – G/A (×3)
  I – Imaj7 – ii7 – IVmaj7 – IV6 – I – IV (bass A)

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1064, 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.