Taxman by The Beatles

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 12

Form: Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Bridge → Solo → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → 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.

Section by section

Verse 1

• D7 – D7♯9 (×2)
  I7 – I7#9
• D7
  I7

Chorus 1

• C – G7 – D7
  bVII – IV7 – I7

Verse 2

• D7♯9 – D7 (×2)
  I7#9 – I7

Chorus 2

• C – G7
  bVII – IV7

Bridge

• D7 – C9 (×2)
  I7 – bVII9

Solo

• D7
  I7

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• F7 – D7 – D7♯9 – D7
  bIII7 – I7 – I7#9 – I7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C9 (bVII9) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

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.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.