The Arms of Orion by Prince & Sheena Easton

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 20 · Sections: 10

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

• D5 – D – Bm7 – A/C♯ – A – G – D/F♯ – Em7 – A7sus4
  I5 – I – vi7 – V⁶ – V – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – V7sus4

Verse 1

• Dadd9 – F♯m11
  Iadd9 – iii11
• G6 – Dadd9 (×2)
  IV6 – Iadd9
• Em7 – A7sus4 – A7 – Dadd9 – F♯m11 – G6 – D – Gadd9 – D – Em7 – Cmaj13 – Bm9 – A11
  ii7 – V7sus4 – V7 – Iadd9 – iii11 – IV6 – I – IVadd9 – I – ii7 – bVIImaj13 – vi9 – V11

Chorus 1

• D – A – D/F♯ – Gmaj13 – Em7 (×2)
  I – V – I⁶ – IVmaj13 – ii7
• Cmaj13 – Bm7 – A11 – A
  bVIImaj13 – vi7 – V11 – V

Verse 2

• Dadd9 – F♯m11 – G6 – Dadd9 – Gadd9 – Dadd9 – Em – A7sus4 – A7 – Dadd9 – F♯m11 – G6 – D – Gadd9 – D – Em7 – Cmaj13 – Bm9 – A11 – A7
  Iadd9 – iii11 – IV6 – Iadd9 – IVadd9 – Iadd9 – ii – V7sus4 – V7 – Iadd9 – iii11 – IV6 – I – IVadd9 – I – ii7 – bVIImaj13 – vi9 – V11 – V7

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• Gadd9 – Bm7 – F♯m11 – Gadd9 – Cmaj13 – Bm11 – A11 – A
  IVadd9 – vi7 – iii11 – IVadd9 – bVIImaj13 – vi11 – V11 – V

Verse 3

• Dadd9 – F♯m11 – G6 – Dadd9 – Gadd9 – D – Em – A7sus4 – A7 (×2)
  Iadd9 – iii11 – IV6 – Iadd9 – IVadd9 – I – ii – V7sus4 – V7

Verse 4

• Dadd9 – F♯m11 – G6 – Dadd9 – Gadd9 – Dadd9 – Em – A7sus4 – A7
  Iadd9 – iii11 – IV6 – Iadd9 – IVadd9 – Iadd9 – ii – V7sus4 – V7
• D – A – D/F♯ – Gmaj13 – Em7 (×2)
  I – V – I⁶ – IVmaj13 – ii7
• Cmaj13 – Bm7 – A11 – A
  bVIImaj13 – vi7 – V11 – V

Verse 5

• D – A – D/F♯ – Gmaj13 – Em7 (×2)
  I – V – I⁶ – IVmaj13 – ii7
• Cmaj13 – Bm7 – A11 – A
  bVIImaj13 – vi7 – V11 – V

Verse 6

Same chords as Verse 5.

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1019, 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.