The Letter by The Box Tops

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → C Section → Vamp → C Section → Vamp

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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

• E7
  V7

A Section 1

• Am – F – G – D – Am – F – E7 – Am
  i – bVI – bVII – IV – i – bVI – V7 – i

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 1

• C – G – F – C – G (×2)
  bIII – bVII – bVI – bIII – bVII
• E7
  V7

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

A Section 4

• Am – F – G – D – Am – F
  i – bVI – bVII – IV – i – bVI
• E7 – Am (×2)
  V7 – i

C Section 1

• D♭ – A♭ – G♭ – D♭
  bIV – bI – VI – bIV

Vamp 1

• A♭
  bI

C Section 2

Same chords as C Section 1.

Vamp 2

Same chords as Vamp 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
Am	i	Home chord (tonic)	A Section
F	bVI	In the key	A Section, B Section
G	bVII	In the key	A Section, B Section
D	IV	Borrowed from A major	A Section
C	bIII	In the key	B Section
D♭	bIV	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section
A♭	bI	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section, Vamp
G♭	VI	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section

Harmonic highlights

• D (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Letter, The” (credited “The Box Tops (Wayne Carson Thompson)”, style Rock Pop) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Letter (Beloff Arr.), The” (credited “Wayne Carson Thompson”, style With Energy) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 73%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.