Who Wants to Live Forever by Queen

Overview

Key: E minor · Chords used: 30 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Break → Bridge → Chorus → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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

• Chorus 1 moves to G major.
• Verse 2 moves to E minor.
• Chorus 2 moves to G major.
• Break moves to E minor.
• Chorus 3 moves to G major.

Section by section

Intro

• Cmaj7/E – Em
  bVImaj⁶₅ – i

Verse 1

• Amadd9 – Am – F♯m7♭5 – Em – Em7/D – Em6/C♯ – G/D – A7 – Dsus4 – D
  ivadd9 – iv – iiø7 – i – i⁴₂ – i6 (bass C♯) – bIII⁶₄ – IV7 – bVIIsus4 – bVII

Chorus 1

• C – G/B – Am – C – Gmaj7/B – Am7 – D9sus4(no5) – Dadd9
  IV – I⁶ – ii – IV – Imaj⁶₅ – ii7 – V9sus4(no5) – Vadd9

Verse 2

• Amadd9 – F♯m7♭5 – Em – Em7/D – Em6/C♯ – G/D – A7 – Dsus4 – D
  ivadd9 – iiø7 – i – i⁴₂ – i6 (bass C♯) – bIII⁶₄ – IV7 – bVIIsus4 – bVII

Chorus 2

• C – G/B – Am – C – Gmaj7/B – Am7 – D11 – D – G/B
  IV – I⁶ – ii – IV – Imaj⁶₅ – ii7 – V11 – V – I⁶
• C – G/B – Am (×2)
  IV – I⁶ – ii
• Dsus4 – D
  Vsus4 – V

Break

• Em – Cmaj7 (×3)
  i – bVImaj7
• Em – C
  i – bVI

Bridge

• Em – C (×2)
  i – bVI

Chorus 3

• G – D/F♯ – Em (×2)
  I – V⁶ – vi
• Em7/D – Em6/C♯ – A7/C♯ – Dadd9 – B♭/D
  vi⁴₂ – vi6 (bass C♯) – II⁶₅ – Vadd9 – bIII⁶

Chorus 4

• G – D/F♯ – Em (×2)
  I – V⁶ – vi
• Em7/D – Em6/C♯ – A7/C♯ – Dsus4
  vi⁴₂ – vi6 (bass C♯) – II⁶₅ – Vsus4

Outro

• Gm7/D – Em – Cmaj7/E – Em – Cm – Em – C/E – Am7/E – Em – Em9 – A9/E – Em – Dadd9 – E5
  i⁴₃ – vi – IVmaj⁶₅ – vi – iv – vi – IV⁶ – ii⁴₃ – vi – vi9 – II9 (bass E) – vi – Vadd9 – VI5

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭/D (bIII⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• Cmaj7/E (IVmaj⁶₅) is borrowed from the parallel key, G major.
• C/E (IV⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, G major.
• Am7/E (ii⁴₃) is borrowed from the parallel key, G major.
• Em9 (vi9) is borrowed from the parallel key, G major.
• E5 (VI5) is borrowed from the parallel key, G major.
• A7 acts as V/bVII: it resolves to Dsus4.
• A7/C♯ acts as V/V: it resolves to Dadd9.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo).
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• 1 chord was simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.