When a Man Loves a Woman by Percy Sledge

Overview

Key: D♭ major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse ×2

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.

Section by section

Intro

• D♭ – A♭/C – B♭m – D♭/A♭ – G♭ – A♭ – D♭ – A♭
  I – V⁶ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – V – I – V

Verse 1

• D♭ – A♭/C – B♭m – D♭/A♭ – G♭ – A♭ – D♭ – A♭ (×2)
  I – V⁶ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – V – I – V

Verse 2

• D♭ – A♭/C – B♭m – D♭/A♭ – G♭
  I – V⁶ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV
• A♭ – D♭ (×2)
  V – I
• A♭/C – B♭m – D♭/A♭ – G♭ – A♭ – D♭ – D♭7
  V⁶ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – V – I – I7

Bridge

• G♭ – D♭ (×3)
  IV – I
• B♭m – E♭7 – A♭
  vi – II7 – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E♭7 acts as V/V: it resolves to A♭.

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 90% of the song.
• Not verified: the two RS 200 analysts differ in places (see their agreement above).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.