Too Many Rivers by Brenda Lee

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → 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

• Cm9 – F13 – B♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – F7/C – F7
  ii9 – V13 – I – IV – I⁶ – V⁴₃ – V7

Verse 1

• B♭ – G7 – C7 – Cm
  I – VI7 – II7 – ii
• F7 – B♭ (×2)
  V7 – I
• G7 – C7 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭ – E♭ – B♭
  VI7 – II7 – ii7 – V7 – I – IV – I

Chorus 1

• B♭ – G7 – C7 – Cm7
  I – VI7 – II7 – ii7
• F7 – B♭ (×2)
  V7 – I
• G7 – C7 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭ – E♭ – B♭/D – F7/C – F7
  VI7 – II7 – ii7 – V7 – I – IV – I⁶ – V⁴₃ – V7

Verse 2

• B♭ – G7 – C7 – C9 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭ – F13 – B♭ – G7 – C7 – C9 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭ – E♭ – B♭
  I – VI7 – II7 – II9 – ii7 – V7 – I – V13 – I – VI7 – II7 – II9 – ii7 – V7 – I – IV – I

Chorus 2

• B♭ – G7 – C7 – Cm7 – F9 – B♭ – F13 – B♭ – G7 – C7 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭ – E♭ – B♭
  I – VI7 – II7 – ii7 – V9 – I – V13 – I – VI7 – II7 – ii7 – V7 – I – IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0696, 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.