Three Times a Lady by Commodores

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Instrumental → Chorus

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♭sus2
  Isus2

Verse 1

• A♭ – A♭7/G♭ – Fm – B♭m7♭5/F♭ (×4)
  I – I⁴₂ – vi – iiø⁴₃

Chorus 1

• A♭ – E♭/G – G♭ – D♭/F – B♭m7 – A♭ – E♭ – E♭/D♭ (×2)
  I – V⁶ – bVII – IV⁶ – ii7 – I – V – V (bass D♭)
• Cm7 – E♭9sus4/B♭ – A♭ – E♭/A♭ – D♭ – E♭7sus4
  iii7 – V9sus4 (bass B♭) – I – V (bass A♭) – IV – V7sus4

Verse 2

• A♭ – E♭/A♭ – D♭/A♭ – E♭7sus4 (×4)
  I – V (bass A♭) – IV⁶₄ – V7sus4

Instrumental

• A♭ – E♭/A♭ – D♭/A♭ – E♭7sus4 (×3)
  I – V (bass A♭) – IV⁶₄ – V7sus4
• A♭ – E♭/A♭ – D♭/A♭
  I – V (bass A♭) – IV⁶₄

Chorus 2

• A♭ – E♭/G – G♭ – D♭/F – B♭m7 – A♭ – E♭ – E♭/D♭ – Cm7 – E♭9sus4/B♭ – A♭
  I – V⁶ – bVII – IV⁶ – ii7 – I – V – V (bass D♭) – iii7 – V9sus4 (bass B♭) – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭m7♭5/F♭ (iiø⁴₃) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ minor.
• 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 1201, 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.