You Decorated My Life by Kenny Rogers

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 12 · Sections: 7

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

• G – F♯dim – B7 – C
  I – vii° – III7 – IV

Verse 1

• G – C/G – D/G – C/G (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄ – V (bass G) – IV⁶₄
• D7 – C/D – D7
  V7 – IV (bass D) – V7

Chorus 1

• G – C – G – C – B7 – Em – G/D – Am7 – D7 (×2)
  I – IV – I – IV – III7 – vi – I⁶₄ – ii7 – V7

Interlude

• G – F♯dim – B7 – C
  I – vii° – III7 – IV

Verse 2

• G – C/G – D/G – C/G (×2)
  I – IV⁶₄ – V (bass G) – IV⁶₄
• D7 – C – D7
  V7 – IV – V7

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• G – F♯dim – B7 – C – Gmaj7
  I – vii° – III7 – IV – Imaj7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Em.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0238, 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.