Something by The Beatles

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 27 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Solo → Verse → 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 A major.
• Solo moves to C major.

Section by section

Intro

• F – E♭ – G/D
  IV – bIII – V⁶₄

Verse 1

• C – Em/B – C7 – F – C/E – D – G – Gsus4/A – G/B – Am – A♭aug – C/G – D7 – F – E♭ – G/D
  I – iii⁶₄ – I7 – IV – I⁶ – II – V – Vsus4 (bass A) – V⁶ – vi – bVI+ – I⁶₄ – II7 – IV – bIII – V⁶₄

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge

• A – C♯m/G♯ – F♯m – A/E – D – G – A – A/G♯ – A/G – A/F♯ – A/F – A/E – A – C♯m/G♯ – F♯m – A/E – D – G – C – C/B – C/A – C/G – C/E – C/D
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – bVII – I – I (bass G♯) – I (bass G) – I (bass F♯) – I (bass F) – I⁶₄ – I – iii⁶₄ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – bVII – bIII – bIII (bass B) – bIII (bass A) – bIII⁶₄ – bIII⁶ – bIII (bass D)

Solo

• C – Em/B – C7 – F – C/E – D – G – Gsus4/A – G/B – Am – A♭aug – C/G – D7 – F – E♭ – G/D
  I – iii⁶₄ – I7 – IV – I⁶ – II – V – Vsus4 (bass A) – V⁶ – vi – bVI+ – I⁶₄ – II7 – IV – bIII – V⁶₄

Verse 3

• C – Em/B – C7 – F – C/E – D – G – Gsus4 – G/B – Am – A♭aug – C/G – D7 – F – E♭ – G/D
  I – iii⁶₄ – I7 – IV – I⁶ – II – V – Vsus4 – V⁶ – vi – bVI+ – I⁶₄ – II7 – IV – bIII – V⁶₄

Outro

• A – F – E♭ – G/D – C
  VI – IV – bIII – V⁶₄ – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C/B (bIII (bass B)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C/A (bIII (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C/G (bIII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C/E (bIII⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C/D (bIII (bass D)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• C7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to F.
• D acts as V/V: it resolves to G.

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.
• 4 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.