The Look of Love by Isaac Hayes

Overview

Key: C♯ minor · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 13

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

• C♯m – G♯m – Amaj7 (×7)
  i – v – bVImaj7

Instrumental 1

• C♯m – B (×12)
  i – bVII

Interlude 1

• C♯m/B – B/A – G♯m – C♯m (×4)
  i (bass B) – bVII (bass A) – v – i

Transition

• G♯sus4
  Vsus4

Verse 1

• C♯m – C♯m9 – C♯m – Amaj7 – G♯ – C♯m – C♯m/B – Amaj7 – E/G♯ – E7/G♯ – Amaj7 – G♯madd11 – C♯m – F♯7
  i – i9 – i – bVImaj7 – V – i – i (bass B) – bVImaj7 – bIII⁶ – bIII⁶₅ – bVImaj7 – vadd11 – i – IV7

Chorus 1

• C♯m/B – B7sus4 (×2)
  i (bass B) – bVII7sus4

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• C♯m7 – F♯6 (×35)
  i7 – IV6

Instrumental 2

• C♯m7 – F♯6 (×18)
  i7 – IV6

Interlude 2

• G♯madd11 – C♯m – F♯ (×6)
  vadd11 – i – IV

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• C♯m – G♯m – Amaj7 (×12)
  i – v – bVImaj7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F♯6 (IV6) is borrowed from the parallel key, C♯ major.
• F♯ (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, C♯ major.
• E7/G♯ acts as V/bVI: it resolves to Amaj7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0978, 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.