True by Spandau Ballet

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 16 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → Chorus → Outro → 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

• G – Em9 – Cmaj9 – Bm7 (×3)
  I – vi9 – IVmaj9 – iii7
• Am – F69
  ii – bVII69

Verse 1

• G – Bm – C – E♭ – G – Bm – C – Em7 – C – G – G/F♯ – C
  I – iii – IV – bVI – I – iii – IV – vi7 – IV – I – I (bass F♯) – IV
• G – C – C/B (×3)
  I – IV – IV (bass B)
• C – G/B – Fmaj9
  IV – I⁶ – bVIImaj9

Chorus 1

• G – Em9 – Cmaj9 – Bm7 (×2)
  I – vi9 – IVmaj9 – iii7
• Am – F69
  ii – bVII69

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• E♭ – A♭ (×7)
  bVI – bII
• G
  I

Verse 3

• C – C/B – G – C – G – Am – G/B – C – C/B – G – C – G/B – Fmaj9
  IV – IV (bass B) – I – IV – I – ii – I⁶ – IV – IV (bass B) – I – IV – I⁶ – bVIImaj9

Chorus 3

• G – Em9 – Cmaj9 – Bm7 (×2)
  I – vi9 – IVmaj9 – iii7

Outro 1

• Am7 – Em9 – Em7 (×2)
  ii7 – vi9 – vi7
• Am7 – F69
  ii7 – bVII69

Outro 2

• G – Em9 – Cmaj9 – Bm7 (×6)
  I – vi9 – IVmaj9 – iii7
• G
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F69 (bVII69) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• E♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0091, 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.