The Millionaire by Dr. Hook

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 9

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

• E♭ – B♭ (×2)
  I – V

Verse 1

• E♭ – B♭ – E♭ – B♭ – Cm – Gm – Fm – B♭ (×2)
  I – V – I – V – vi – iii – ii – V

Chorus 1

• E♭ – B♭ – Cm – Gm – A♭ – B♭ – E♭ – B♭ – Cm – Gm – A♭ – E♭ – A♭ – A♭/G – Fm – B♭
  I – V – vi – iii – IV – V – I – V – vi – iii – IV – I – IV – IV (bass G) – ii – V

Transition

• E♭ – B♭ (×2)
  I – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Bridge

• E♭ – E♭/D♭ – A♭ – B♭ – E♭ – E♭7 – G – Cm – Fm – A♭ – A♭m – E♭ – E♭/D – Cm – A♭ – Adim – B♭
  I – I (bass D♭) – IV – V – I – I7 – III – vi – ii – IV – iv – I – I (bass D) – vi – IV – #iv° – V

Chorus 3

• E♭ – B♭ – Cm – Gm – A♭ – B♭ – E♭ – B♭ – Cm – Gm – A♭ – E♭ – A♭ – A♭/G – Fm – B♭ – E♭ – A♭ – E♭ – B♭
  I – V – vi – iii – IV – V – I – V – vi – iii – IV – I – IV – IV (bass G) – ii – V – I – IV – I – V

Outro

• E♭ – B♭ (×8)
  I – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• E♭/D♭ acts as V/IV: it resolves to A♭.
• G acts as V/vi: it resolves to Cm.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1009, 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.