Somebody to Love by Queen

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 25 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Solo → Chorus → Verse → Break → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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

• Bridge moves to D♭ major.
• Solo moves to A♭ major.

Section by section

Intro

• A♭ – E♭/G – Fm7 – D♭maj9 – E♭6 – D♭ – A♭/C – E♭7 – A♭ – E♭/G – Fm – D♭ – E♭7
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – IVmaj9 – V6 – IV – I⁶ – V7 – I – V⁶ – vi – IV – V7

Verse 1

• A♭ – E♭/G – Fm – A♭ – B♭ – E♭7 – A♭ – E♭/G – Fm – B♭7 – E♭7 – A♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭7/D – E♭ – D♭
  I – V⁶ – vi – I – II – V7 – I – V⁶ – vi – II7 – V7 – I – II7 – V – II⁶₅ – V – IV

Chorus 1

• A♭ – E♭7/G – Fm7 – D♭maj7 – E♭7 – A♭ – A♭/G – Fm – D♭ – E♭7
  I – V⁶₅ – vi7 – IVmaj7 – V7 – I – I (bass G) – vi – IV – V7

Verse 2

• A♭ – E♭/G – Fm – A♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – A♭ – E♭/G – Fm – B♭7 – E♭7 – A♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭7/D – E♭ – D♭
  I – V⁶ – vi – I – II7 – V – I – V⁶ – vi – II7 – V7 – I – II7 – V – II⁶₅ – V – IV

Chorus 2

• A♭ – E♭7/G – Fm7 – D♭maj7 – D♭/E♭ – A♭ – A♭7
  I – V⁶₅ – vi7 – IVmaj7 – IV (bass E♭) – I – I7

Bridge

• D♭ – D♭7 – G♭ – G♭m – B♭7 – E♭7 – A♭/E♭
  I – I7 – IV – iv – VI7 – II7 – V⁶₄

Solo

• A♭ – Cm/G – Fm – A♭ – B♭7 – E♭7 – A♭ – Cm/G – Fm – B♭7 – E♭7 – D♭ – A♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭7/D – E♭ – D♭
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi – I – II7 – V7 – I – iii⁶₄ – vi – II7 – V7 – IV – I – II7 – V – II⁶₅ – V – IV

Chorus 3

• A♭ – E♭7/G – Fm7 – D♭maj7 – E♭7 – A♭ – A♭/G – Fm – D♭maj7 – E♭7
  I – V⁶₅ – vi7 – IVmaj7 – V7 – I – I (bass G) – vi – IVmaj7 – V7

Verse 3

• A♭ – E♭7/G – Fm – A♭ – B♭7 – E♭7 – A♭ – E♭/G – Fm – B♭7 – E♭7 – A♭ – B♭7 – E♭ – B♭7/D – E♭ – D♭
  I – V⁶₅ – vi – I – II7 – V7 – I – V⁶ – vi – II7 – V7 – I – II7 – V – II⁶₅ – V – IV

Break

• A♭ – E♭/A♭ – D♭/A♭ – A♭ – E♭7/G – Fm7 – D♭maj7 – D♭/E♭
  I – V (bass A♭) – IV⁶₄ – I – V⁶₅ – vi7 – IVmaj7 – IV (bass E♭)

Outro

• A♭ – A♭7
  I – I7
• Fm – D♭ – E♭7 – A♭ – A♭/G (×6)
  vi – IV – V7 – I – I (bass G)
• Fm – D♭ – E♭7 – A♭
  vi – IV – V7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

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

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 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.