The Best Disco in Town by The Ritchie Family

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 33 · Sections: 6

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

• A♭ – D♭add9/A♭ (×2)
  I – IVadd9 (bass A♭)

Chorus 1

• A♭ – Fm7 – D♭ – A♭/C – B♭m7 – A♭/C – D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  I – vi7 – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I⁶ – IV – V
• B♭m7 – E♭7 (×3)
  ii7 – V7
• B♭m7 – A♭/C – D♭ – B♭7/D – E♭7sus4 – E♭7
  ii7 – I⁶ – IV – II⁶₅ – V7sus4 – V7

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• A♭ – D♭add9/A♭ (×3)
  I – IVadd9 (bass A♭)
• A♭ – D♭m/A♭ – A♭ – A♭add9 – Fm7 – B♭7sus4 – B♭
  I – iv⁶₄ – I – Iadd9 – vi7 – II7sus4 – II
• Fm7 – Gm7 (×4)
  vi7 – vii7
• Cm7 – F7sus4 – F – F7sus4 – B♭6 – E♭ – Cm7 – Fm7 – E♭/B♭ – B♭7 – F7sus4 – B♭6 – E♭ – Cm7 – F9sus4 – F9sus4/G – A♭ – Am7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – G♭ – F – E – E♭ – D – D♭ – C – B – B♭ – A
  iii7 – VI7sus4 – VI – VI7sus4 – II6 – V – iii7 – vi7 – V⁶₄ – II7 – VI7sus4 – II6 – V – iii7 – VI9sus4 – VI9sus4 (bass G) – I – #i7 – #IV7 – VIImaj7 – bVII – VI – #V – V – #IV – IV – III – #II – II – #I

Interlude

• A♭ – D♭add9/A♭ (×2)
  I – IVadd9 (bass A♭)

Chorus 3

• A♭ – D♭ – A♭/C – B♭m – A♭/C – D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  I – IV – I⁶ – ii – I⁶ – IV – V
• B♭m – E♭ (×3)
  ii – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D♭m/A♭ (iv⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• G♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• E (#V) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• B (#II) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• B♭7/D acts as V/V: it resolves to E♭7sus4.
• B♭6 acts as V/V: it resolves to E♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0925, 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.