You Really Got a Hold on Me by The Beatles

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Bridge → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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

• E
  V
• A – F♯m (×2)
  I – vi

Verse 1

• A – F♯m – A – D – B7 – E
  I – vi – I – IV – II7 – V

Chorus 1

• A – F♯m
  I – vi

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 1

• A – D – A – E
  I – IV – I – V

Bridge

• A – F♯m – A/E – F♯m – E – A – F♯sus4 – A/E – F♯m – E – A
  I – vi – I⁶₄ – vi – V – I – VIsus4 – I⁶₄ – vi – V – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude 2

Same chords as Interlude 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• A – A9
  I – I9

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B7 acts as V/V: it resolves to E.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 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.