The Bitch Is Back by Elton John

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 16

Form: Intro → Verse → Interlude → Verse → Interlude → Chorus → Interlude → Verse → Interlude → Chorus → Interlude → Solo → Interlude → Chorus → Interlude → 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

• A♭ – D♭/A♭ (×4)
  I – IV⁶₄

Verse 1

• A♭ – E♭ – A♭ – G♭ – D♭ – A♭ – A♭/E♭ – A♭
  I – V – I – bVII – IV – I – I⁶₄ – I

Interlude 1

• A♭ – D♭/A♭ (×4)
  I – IV⁶₄
• A♭
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude 2

• A♭ – D♭/A♭ (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄
• A♭
  I

Chorus 1

• E♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ – G♭ – E♭
  V – vi – IV – V – bVII – V

Interlude 3

• A♭ – D♭/A♭ (×4)
  I – IV⁶₄

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude 4

Same chords as Interlude 2.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 5

• A♭ – D♭/A♭ (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄

Solo

• A♭ – E♭ – A♭ – G♭ – D♭ – A♭ – A♭/E♭ – A♭
  I – V – I – bVII – IV – I – I⁶₄ – I

Interlude 6

Same chords as Interlude 2.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 7

Same chords as Interlude 5.

Outro

• A♭ – G♭ – D♭ (×14)
  I – bVII – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0991, 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.