Where the Streets Have No Names by Pet Shop Boys

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Bridge → 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.

Key changes

• Outro moves to C♭ major.

Section by section

Intro

• Cm7 – B♭ (×2)
  ii7 – I

Verse 1

• B♭ – B♭7 (×3)
  I – I7
• E♭ – Gm – F – A♭add9
  IV – vi – V – bVIIadd9

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 1

• B♭ – E♭ – Gm – F – A♭
  I – IV – vi – V – bVII

Interlude 1

• G♭ – D♭6 (×2)
  bVI – bIII6
• B♭7♯9
  I7#9

Bridge 1

• E♭m7 – A♭7 – Fm7 – B♭m7 – E♭m7 – A♭7sus4
  iv7 – bVII7 – v7 – i7 – iv7 – bVII7sus4

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• B♭ – E♭ – Gm – F – A♭add9
  I – IV – vi – V – bVIIadd9

Interlude 2

• G♭ – D♭6 – B♭7♯9
  bVI – bIII6 – I7#9

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Outro

• C♭add9
  Iadd9

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A♭add9 (bVIIadd9) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• A♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• G♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• D♭6 (bIII6) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭m7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• A♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• Fm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• B♭m7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• A♭7sus4 (bVII7sus4) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• B♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to E♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0382, 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.