Swing Talkin' Guy by The Chiffons

Overview

Key: B major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Transition → Instrumental → 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

Intro

• B – Bsus4 – B/F♯ – F♯7sus4
  I – Isus4 – I⁶₄ – V7sus4

Verse 1

• B – F♯/A♯ – D♯dim/A – E/G♯ – Em/G – B/F♯ – F♯7
  I – V⁶ – iii°⁶₄ – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – I⁶₄ – V7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Transition

• D – G – C – F♯7
  bIII – bVI – bII – V7

Instrumental

• B – F♯/A♯ – D♯dim/A – E/G♯ – Em/G – B/F♯ – F♯7
  I – V⁶ – iii°⁶₄ – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – I⁶₄ – V7

Chorus 1

• B – F♯/A♯ – D♯dim/A – E/G♯ – Em/G – B/F♯ – F♯7
  I – V⁶ – iii°⁶₄ – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – I⁶₄ – V7

Chorus 2

• B – F♯/A♯ – D♯dim/A – E/G♯ – Em/G – B/F♯
  I – V⁶ – iii°⁶₄ – IV⁶ – iv⁶ – I⁶₄

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Em/G (iv⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• D (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• G (bVI) 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 0026, 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.