Still by Commodores

Overview

Key: D♭ major · Chords used: 16 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Instrumental → Chorus → 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♭ – E♭m/D♭ (×2)
  I – ii (bass D♭)

Verse

• D♭sus4 – D♭ – D♭sus4 – D♭ – G♭maj7 – G♭6 – A♭sus4 – A♭ – A♭sus4 – A♭ – D♭sus4 – D♭ (×2)
  Isus4 – I – Isus4 – I – IVmaj7 – IV6 – Vsus4 – V – Vsus4 – V – Isus4 – I
• D♭/C – E♭m/B♭ – A♭
  I (bass C) – ii⁶₄ – V

Chorus 1

• G♭maj7 – E♭m7 – A♭ – D♭maj7 – D♭7 – D♭/C – E♭m/B♭ – A♭ – G♭maj7 – E♭m7/A♭ – A♭ – D♭maj7 – C♭/D♭ – D♭7 – G♭/B♭ – A♭ – G♭maj7 – E♭m7 – A♭ – D♭maj7 – C♭/D♭ – D♭7 – G♭/B♭ – A♭ – G♭maj7 – D♭/F – E♭m7 – A♭ – A♭sus4 – A♭
  IVmaj7 – ii7 – V – Imaj7 – I7 – I (bass C) – ii⁶₄ – V – IVmaj7 – ii7 (bass A♭) – V – Imaj7 – bVII (bass D♭) – I7 – IV⁶ – V – IVmaj7 – ii7 – V – Imaj7 – bVII (bass D♭) – I7 – IV⁶ – V – IVmaj7 – I⁶ – ii7 – V – Vsus4 – V

Instrumental

• D♭sus4 – D♭ (×2)
  Isus4 – I
• G♭maj7 – G♭6
  IVmaj7 – IV6
• A♭sus4 – A♭ (×2)
  Vsus4 – V
• D♭sus4 – D♭ – D♭/C – E♭m/B♭ – A♭
  Isus4 – I – I (bass C) – ii⁶₄ – V

Chorus 2

• G♭maj7 – E♭m7 – A♭ – D♭maj7 – C♭/D♭ – D♭7 – G♭/B♭ – A♭ (×3)
  IVmaj7 – ii7 – V – Imaj7 – bVII (bass D♭) – I7 – IV⁶ – V
• G♭maj7 – D♭/F – E♭m7 – A♭ – A♭sus4 – A♭
  IVmaj7 – I⁶ – ii7 – V – Vsus4 – V

Outro

• D♭sus4 – D♭
  Isus4 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C♭/D♭ (bVII (bass D♭)) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• D♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to G♭/B♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0507, 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.