Someone by The Rembrandts

Overview

Key: B major · Chords used: 22 · Sections: 8

Form: Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Chorus → 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

Verse 1

• B5 – F♯sus4 – Esus2 (×2)
  I5 – Vsus4 – IVsus2
• A9 – E/G♯ (×2)
  bVII9 – IV⁶
• B5 – E5 – F♯
  I5 – IV5 – V

Verse 2

• B – F♯sus4 – E9 (×2)
  I – Vsus4 – IV9
• A9 – E/G♯ (×2)
  bVII9 – IV⁶
• B/F♯ – E9 – F♯
  I⁶₄ – IV9 – V

Chorus 1

• E – F♯ – C♯/F (×2)
  IV – V – II⁶
• E – F♯ – E/G♯ – Bsus4/A – B5
  IV – V – IV⁶ – Isus4 (bass A) – I5

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 2

• E – F♯ – C♯/F (×2)
  IV – V – II⁶
• E – F♯ – E/G♯ – Bsus4/A
  IV – V – IV⁶ – Isus4 (bass A)

Solo

• C♯m – G♯7 – A – C♯m/G♯ – F♯m – C♯7 – D – F♯m
  ii – VI7 – bVII – ii⁶₄ – v – II7 – bIII – v

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Chorus 4

• E – F♯ – C♯/F (×2)
  IV – V – II⁶
• E – F♯ – E/G♯ – Bsus4/A – B – Emaj7 – C♯m7 – A9 – E
  IV – V – IV⁶ – Isus4 (bass A) – I – IVmaj7 – ii7 – bVII9 – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A9 (bVII9) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• Bsus4/A (Isus4 (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• A (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• F♯m (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• D (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0414, 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.