Walk on By by Dionne Warwick

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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

• Pre-Chorus 1 moves to F major.
• Verse 2 moves to A minor.
• Pre-Chorus 2 moves to F major.
• Verse 3 moves to A minor.
• Pre-Chorus 3 moves to F major.

Section by section

Intro

• Am
  i

Verse 1

• Am – D7 (×2)
  i – IV7
• Am – D
  i – IV

Pre-Chorus 1

• Gm – Am (×2)
  ii – iii
• Dm – Am – B♭ – C
  vi – iii – IV – V

Chorus 1

• F – B♭ (×3)
  I – IV
• F
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 2

• F – B♭ (×4)
  I – IV

Verse 3

• Am – D7 (×4)
  i – IV7
• Am
  i

Pre-Chorus 3

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Outro

• F – B♭ (×3)
  I – IV

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Am	i (in A minor)	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse
D7	IV7 (in A minor)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse
D	IV (in A minor)	Borrowed from A major	Verse
Gm	ii	In the key	Pre-Chorus
Am	iii	In the key	Pre-Chorus
Dm	vi	In the key	Pre-Chorus
B♭	IV	In the key	Pre-Chorus, Chorus, Outro
C	V	In the key	Pre-Chorus
F	I	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus, Outro

Harmonic highlights

• D (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, A major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 100% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.