Who Wears These Shoes by Elton John

Overview

Key: B minor · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Chorus

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 – D – D7 – G – Bm – G – D – G
  bVI – bIII – bIII7 – bVI – i – bVI – bIII – bVI

Verse 1

• Bm – Em – D – A – Em – Bm – Em – Bm/F♯ – G7 – F♯7
  i – iv – bIII – bVII – iv – i – iv – i⁶₄ – bVI7 – V7

Chorus 1

• Bm – Em (×2)
  i – iv

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

• Bm
  i

Verse 3

• D – A/C♯ – Em – F♯ – D – A/C♯ – Bm – G – Em7 – D/F♯ – G – A
  bIII – bVII⁶ – iv – V – bIII – bVII⁶ – i – bVI – iv7 – bIII⁶ – bVI – bVII

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

• G – A
  bVI – bVII
• D – G/D (×2)
  bIII – bVI⁶₄
• D – Em7 – D7/F♯ – G – Gsus4 – G – A – Asus4 – A – Em – F♯7
  bIII – iv7 – bIII⁶₅ – bVI – bVIsus4 – bVI – bVII – bVIIsus4 – bVII – iv – V7

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 3.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 6

• G – D – G – Bm (×6)
  bVI – bIII – bVI – i

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D7 acts as V/bVI: it resolves to G.
• D7/F♯ acts as V/bVI: it resolves to G.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 1269, 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.