I’ll Be There chords by The Jackson 5

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I’ll Be There | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

Verse 1

Verse 2

| F | C/E | Dm Dm/C | Am |
I’ll reach out my hand to you, I’ll have faith in all you do.
| Bbmaj7 | C11 | F | F |
Just call my name and I’ll be there (I’ll be there, and oh).

Bridge 1

| Ab | Eb |
I’ll be there to comfort you.
| Bb | F |
Build my world of dreams around you, I’m so glad that I found you.
| Ab | Eb |
I’ll be there with a love that’s strong,
| Bb | F | F | F |
I’ll be your strength, I’ll keep holding on (holding on…).

Verse 3

Verse 4

| F | C/E | Dm Dm/C | Am |
I’ll be there to protect you, (yeah baby). With an unselfish love that respects you.
| Bbmaj7 | C11 | F | F C11 |
Just call my name, and I’ll be there (I’ll be there, and oh).

Bridge 2

Verse 5

Chorus 1

Chorus 2

Chorus 3

Chorus 4

| F | C/E | Dm Dm/C | Am | to fade
(La la..) I’ll be there. I’ll be there.

I’ll Be There’s chords and chord progressions

As an early single from The Jackson 5, I’ll Be There was incredibly the 4th big hit from the group, looking at how young Michael is at the time, this is truly remarkable.

Berry Gordy, the man behind Motown actually wrote and even produced I’ll Be There. Famously, he insisted that Michael singing “…Just look over your shoulders…” had to be kept in rather than edited to shoulder as this showed how young he was.

Let’s study the chords, which are mostly from the key of F, in order to understand how this legendary tune was put together.

The intro contains a common modal interchange, confusing us as to what key we are in as it goes I – bVII – IV – I, it kind of feels like V – IV – I in Bb. Like this, with extensions:

It’s the sus4 on the Eb that tells us it’s an F Mixolydian modal interchange, not a key change as chord IV can’t be a sus4, it must be a #11.

Verses 1, 3, 5, and all choruses then go like this:

| F | C/E | Dm Dm/C | Am |
| Bbmaj7 | C11 | F C/E Dm | Dm/C Bb Am Am/G |

Using roman numerals that’s:

| I | V/3 | VI VI/b7 | III |
| IV | V | I V/3 VI | VI/b7 IV III III/b7 |

The slash chords make it sound more complicated than it is, all of I’ll Be There’s verse chords are diatonic to F major (Ionian).

Verse 2 is the same but without the descending chords in the last two bars:

| F | C/E | Dm Dm/C | Am |
| Bbmaj7 | C11 | F | F |

Verse 4 adds a C11 at the end:

| F | C/E | Dm Dm/C | Am |
| Bbmaj7 | C11 | F | F C11 |

The bridge changes the key to Ab, making the F a VIx. After repeating, we stay on F, then just start the verse on F, now as chord I. The more I listen, the more genius I feel this is.

||: Ab | Eb | Bb | F :|| F | F |

On a final note, I’ll Be There is an unusual arrangement in that the verse and chorus chords are the same, and the verse melody is constantly hinting at the chorus, but the actual chorus doesn’t arrive until 2:45 and then repeats to fade around 3:43.

I’ll Be There chords | Related pages

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Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy is the man behind the hit factory that was Motown. The idea behind the label came from working in a car factory.

Housing the label, the studio, and a house band all in the same building proved to be a masterstroke as Berry set out to discover the greatest superstars of our time.

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Michael Jackson

The King of Pop became world-famous before he was even a teenager as he signed to Motown with his brothers as The Jackson 5.

After many hits, Michael embarked on a crazy solo career that would see him become as big as Elvis and The Beatles.

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