Sleep Walk by Santo & Johnny

Overview

Key: D♭ major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse → 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

• D♭ – B♭m – G♭m – A♭ – D♭ – B♭m – G♭ – A♭
  I – vi – iv – V – I – vi – IV – V

Verse 1

• D♭ – B♭m – G♭m – A♭ (×3)
  I – vi – iv – V
• D♭ – B♭m – G♭ – A♭
  I – vi – IV – V

Verse 2

• D♭ – B♭m – G♭m – A♭ (×2)
  I – vi – iv – V
• D♭ – B♭m – G♭m/B♭ – A♭ – D♭ – G♭ – D♭
  I – vi – iv (bass B♭) – V – I – IV – I

Bridge

• G♭ – G♭m – D♭ – D♭7 – G♭ – G♭m – A♭7 – A♭7♯9
  IV – iv – I – I7 – IV – iv – V7 – V7#9

Verse 3

• D♭ – B♭m – G♭m – A♭ (×2)
  I – vi – iv – V
• D♭ – B♭m – G♭m – A♭13 – A♭7
  I – vi – iv – V13 – V7

Outro

• D♭maj7 – A♭7♭9 – D♭maj13
  Imaj7 – V7b9 – Imaj13

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• A♭7♯9 (V7#9) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• A♭7♭9 (V7b9) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• D♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to G♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0157, 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.