Sail on Sailor by The Beach Boys

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 13

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Bridge → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → 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

• G
  I

Verse 1

• G
  I
• E♭maj9 – D9sus4 (×2)
  bVImaj9 – V9sus4

Chorus 1

• E♭maj9 – F – G
  bVImaj9 – bVII – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition

• D – D♯dim – Em7 (×2)
  V – #v° – vi7

Bridge 1

• Am7 – Em7 (×4)
  ii7 – vi7
• G – Am7 (×3)
  I – ii7
• G – C
  I – IV
• Am7 – Em7 (×3)
  ii7 – vi7
• Am7
  ii7

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• E♭maj9 – F – G (×6)
  bVImaj9 – bVII – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E♭maj9 (bVImaj9) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• F (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0239, 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.