Sara Smile by Daryl Hall & John Oates

Overview

Key: D minor · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Bridge → 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.

Section by section

Intro

• Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9sus4 (×2)
  i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVII9sus4

Verse 1

• Dm7 – Am/C – B♭maj9 – A9sus4 – A (×2)
  i7 – v⁶ – bVImaj9 – V9sus4 – V

Pre-Chorus 1

• B♭ – C – A7♭9/C♯ – Dm7 – B♭ – C – E♭7 – Dm7 – Gm7
  bVI – bVII – V7b9 (bass C♯) – i7 – bVI – bVII – bII7 – i7 – iv7

Chorus 1

• Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9sus4 – C♯9 – Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9sus4
  i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVII9sus4 – VII9 – i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVII9sus4

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 2

• Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9sus4 – C♯9 – Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9sus4 – Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – Csus4 – C♯9 – Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – Csus4
  i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVII9sus4 – VII9 – i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVII9sus4 – i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVIIsus4 – VII9 – i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVIIsus4

Bridge

• Gm7 – C – Dm9 – F – B♭ – C♯dim
  iv7 – bVII – i9 – bIII – bVI – vii°

Chorus 3

• Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9sus4 – C♯9 – Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9sus4 (×2)
  i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVII9sus4 – VII9 – i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVII9sus4
• Dm7 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9sus4 – C♯9 – Dm7 – Am7
  i7 – v7 – iv7 – bVII9sus4 – VII9 – i7 – v7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A9sus4 (V9sus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, D major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0708, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• 2 chords were simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.