Years Ago by George Harrison

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Transition → Solo → Chorus → Verse → Instrumental → Instrumental

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

• D
  I

Verse 1

• D – Em – Edim7 – Gdim7 – D – F♯m – Em – Gm – D – B – Em (×2)
  I – ii – ii°7 – iv°7 – I – iii – ii – iv – I – VI – ii

Chorus 1

• A – D – Em – A7 – D – A – D – Em – A – Aaug
  V – I – ii – V7 – I – V – I – ii – V – V+

Verse 2

• D – Em – Edim7 – Gdim7
  I – ii – ii°7 – iv°7
• D – F♯m – Em – Gm – D – B – Em (×2)
  I – iii – ii – iv – I – VI – ii

Transition

• D
  I

Solo

• D – Em – Edim7 – Gdim7 – D – F♯m – Em – Gm – D – B – Em (×2)
  I – ii – ii°7 – iv°7 – I – iii – ii – iv – I – VI – ii

Chorus 2

• A – D – Em
  V – I – ii
• A – D (×2)
  V – I
• Em – A – Aaug
  ii – V – V+

Verse 3

• D – Em – Edim – Gdim
  I – ii – ii° – iv°
• D – F♯m – Em – Gm – D – B – Em (×3)
  I – iii – ii – iv – I – VI – ii
• A
  V

Instrumental 1

• D – Em – Edim7 – Gdim7 – D – F♯m – Em – Gm – D – B – Em (×2)
  I – ii – ii°7 – iv°7 – I – iii – ii – iv – I – VI – ii

Instrumental 2

Same chords as Instrumental 1.

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Gm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Aaug (V+) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• Edim (ii°) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• B acts as V/ii: it resolves to Em.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0517, 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.