You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Interlude → Verse → Chorus → Instrumental → Outro → 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.

Section by section

Intro

• F – C – B♭ – C (×4)
  I – V – IV – V

Verse 1

• F – Csus4 – B♭ – Csus4 (×8)
  I – Vsus4 – IV – Vsus4

Chorus 1

• F – C – B♭ – C (×4)
  I – V – IV – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• F – Csus4 – B♭ – Csus4 (×8)
  I – Vsus4 – IV – Vsus4

Interlude

• F – C – B♭ – C (×4)
  I – V – IV – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Instrumental

• F – Csus4 – B♭ – Csus4 (×8)
  I – Vsus4 – IV – Vsus4

Outro 1

• F – C – B♭ – C (×8)
  I – V – IV – V

Outro 2

• F – C – B♭ – C (×5)
  I – V – IV – V
• F – C
  I – V

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0081, 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.