Skye Boat Song by Traditional

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 4

Form: Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse

Where these chords come from: a lead sheet of this public-domain song, contributed by a musician to the Wikifonia archive and preserved in the OpenEWLD lead-sheet collection (Simonetta et al., 2018). It describes the song as written, not any particular recording. This page shows that lead sheet 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

Chorus 1

• G – Em/B – Am/C – D7 – G – C – D7 – G – Em/B – Am/C – D7 – G – Em – G
  I – vi⁶₄ – ii⁶ – V7 – I – IV – V7 – I – vi⁶₄ – ii⁶ – V7 – I – vi – I

Verse 1

• Em – Emmaj7 – Am – G♭m7♭5 – Em – B (×2)
  vi – vimaj7 – ii – biø7 – vi – III
• Em – D7
  vi – V7

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B acts as V/vi: it resolves to Em.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the OpenEWLD lead-sheet collection (Simonetta et al., 2018). Community-contributed lead sheet (chord symbols over the melody) from the Wikifonia archive, MIT licence. Title and songwriter credit as written on the sheet.
• Section names: as printed on the lead sheet.
• Not verified: only one lead sheet of this song is available, so it hasn't been cross-checked.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.