The Way You Do the Things You Do by Rita Coolidge

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Solo → Verse → 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.

Key changes

• Verse 3 moves to F major.

Section by section

Intro

• E/B – E♭/B♭ – D/A – E7
  I⁶₄ – bI⁶₄ – bVII⁶₄ – I7

Verse 1

• E7 – A7 – E7 – B
  I7 – IV7 – I7 – V
• B7 – A7 (×2)
  V7 – IV7
• E7
  I7

Verse 2

• E7 – A7 – E7
  I7 – IV7 – I7
• B7 – A7 (×2)
  V7 – IV7
• E7
  I7

Solo

• E7
  I7
• B7 – A7 (×2)
  V7 – IV7
• E7 – F7
  I7 – bII7

Verse 3

• F7
  I7
• C7 – B♭7 (×2)
  V7 – IV7
• F7
  I7

Outro

• F7 – A♭ – B♭ (×6)
  I7 – bIII – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D/A (bVII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• A♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0291, 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.