You're So Vain by Carly Simon

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 15

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)

• Am – Am7
  i – i7

Part 2 (0:06)

• Am – Am7 (×5)
  i – i7
• Am
  i

Part 3 (0:21)

• F – Am7
  bVI – i7
• Am – F (×2)
  i – bVI
• G
  bVII

Part 4 (0:39)

• Em7 – Am7 – F – C – G – F – C – Dm7
  v7 – i7 – bVI – bIII – bVII – bVI – bIII – iv7

Part 5 (0:57)

• C – Am – F – G13 – Am – F
  bIII – i – bVI – bVII13 – i – bVI

Part 6 (1:16)

• Amadd9
  iadd9
• Am – F (×2)
  i – bVI
• G – Em7 – Am7 – F
  bVII – v7 – i7 – bVI

Part 7 (1:34)

• C – G – F – C – Dm7 – C
  bIII – bVII – bVI – bIII – iv7 – bIII

Part 8 (1:52)

• Am – F – G13 – Am – F – Am7
  i – bVI – bVII13 – i – bVI – i7

Part 9 (2:10)

• F – Am – F – G – Em7 – Am7 – F – C
  bVI – i – bVI – bVII – v7 – i7 – bVI – bIII

Part 10 (2:28)

• G – F – C – Dm7 – C – Am – F
  bVII – bVI – bIII – iv7 – bIII – i – bVI

Part 11 (2:46)

• G – Am – F – Am7 – Am
  bVII – i – bVI – i7 – i

Part 12 (3:04)

• F – Am – F – G – Em7 – Am7 – F – C – G – F
  bVI – i – bVI – bVII – v7 – i7 – bVI – bIII – bVII – bVI

Part 13 (3:22)

• C – Dm7 – C – Am – F – G
  bIII – iv7 – bIII – i – bVI – bVII

Part 14 (3:41)

• C – Dm7 (×2)
  bIII – iv7

Part 15 (3:58)

Same chords as Part 14 (3:41).

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (No Secerts), 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 (No Secerts), 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.