You Are the Sunshine of My Life by Stevie Wonder

Overview

Key: B major · Chords used: 24 · Sections: 12

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• Badd9 – F♯aug (×2)
  Iadd9 – V+

Part 2 (0:15)

• B – F♯7/E – D♯m7 – G♯7♭9 – C♯m7 – F♯7 – B – C♯m7 – F♯7sus4
  I – V⁴₂ – iii7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V7 – I – ii7 – V7sus4

Part 3 (0:29)

• C – F♯7/E – D♯m7 – G♯7♭9 – C♯m7 – F♯7 – B – C♯m7 – F♯7sus4
  bII – V⁴₂ – iii7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V7 – I – ii7 – V7sus4

Part 4 (0:44)

• Bmaj7 – C♯m7 – F♯7 (×3)
  Imaj7 – ii7 – V7
• A♯m7♭5 – D♯7
  viiø7 – III7

Part 5 (0:59)

• G♯maj7 – A♯m7 – D♯7 – G♯m – G♯m7 – C♯7 – C♯m7 – F♯7
  VImaj7 – vii7 – III7 – vi – vi7 – II7 – ii7 – V7

Part 6 (1:13)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:15).

Part 7 (1:28)

Same chords as Part 2 (0:15).

Part 8 (1:42)

Same chords as Part 4 (0:44).

Part 9 (1:56)

• G♯maj7 – A♯m7 – D♯7 – G♯m – G♯m7 – C♯7 – F♯7 – G7
  VImaj7 – vii7 – III7 – vi – vi7 – II7 – V7 – bVI7

Part 10 (2:11)

• C – G7/F – Em7 – A7♭9 – Dm7 – G7 – C – Dm7 – G7sus4
  bII – bVI⁴₂ – iv7 – bVII7b9 – biii7 – bVI7 – bII – biii7 – bVI7sus4

Part 11 (2:25)

Same chords as Part 10 (2:11).

Part 12 (2:39)

• C – G7/F – Em7 – A7♭9 – Dm7 – G7 – C
  bII – bVI⁴₂ – iv7 – bVII7b9 – biii7 – bVI7 – bII

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F♯aug (V+) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• Em7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B minor.
• G♯7♭9 acts as V/ii: it resolves to C♯m7.
• D♯7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to G♯m.
• C♯7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F♯7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Talking Book), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Talking Book), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.