Starting Over Again by Dolly Parton

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Chorus → Verse

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

• Cm11 – F – Fsus4 – F (×2)
  ii11 – V – Vsus4 – V

Verse 1

• B♭ – F/B♭ – Cm7 – F9sus4 (×2)
  I – V (bass B♭) – ii7 – V9sus4
• B♭ – Dm7 – E♭ – Dm7 – B♭ – F/B♭ – F9sus4
  I – iii7 – IV – iii7 – I – V (bass B♭) – V9sus4

Chorus 1

• B♭ – F/B♭ – Cm7 – F9sus4 (×3)
  I – V (bass B♭) – ii7 – V9sus4
• B♭ – F/B♭ – F9sus4
  I – V (bass B♭) – V9sus4

Interlude

• B♭ – F/B♭ – Cm7 – F9sus4
  I – V (bass B♭) – ii7 – V9sus4

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• B♭ – F/B♭ – Cm7 – F9sus4 (×2)
  I – V (bass B♭) – ii7 – V9sus4
• B♭ – F/B♭ – Cm7 – Dm7 – F9sus4
  I – V (bass B♭) – ii7 – iii7 – V9sus4

Bridge

• F9sus4 – D7/F♯ – Gm7 – Fadd9 – E♭ – Fsus2 – Gm7 – Fadd9 – E♭ – C7/E – Fsus4 – F
  V9sus4 – III⁶₅ – vi7 – Vadd9 – IV – Vsus2 – vi7 – Vadd9 – IV – II⁶₅ – Vsus4 – V

Chorus 3

• B♭ – F/B♭ – Cm7 – F9sus4 (×4)
  I – V (bass B♭) – ii7 – V9sus4

Verse 3

• B♭ – F/B♭ – Cm7 – Dm7 (×2)
  I – V (bass B♭) – ii7 – iii7
• E♭ – F9sus4 – B♭
  IV – V9sus4 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D7/F♯ acts as V/vi: it resolves to Gm7.
• C7/E acts as V/V: it resolves to Fsus4.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0944, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• 1 chord was 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.