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TheoryTab / Pet Shop Boys / The Way It Used To Be
The Way It Used To Be
Song Analysis

The Way It Used To Be Chords and Melody

The Way It Used To Be
The Way It Used To Be – Intro
The Way It Used To Be – Verse
The Way It Used To Be – Chorus
The Way It Used To Be – Bridge
The Way It Used To Be – Outro

Related Music Concepts

Suspended Chords
A chord with built in tension and release
Seventh Chords
Adding one more note to the basic chords
Add Chords
A chord with an added tone that enriches its sound
Song Stats Intro
Tempo 124 BPM
Meter 4/4
Genre Electronic, Pop, Dance
Melody Range E3 – D4
Mood Unexpected, Moody
Most Used Chord i
Chord Complexity 55
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity 60
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension 58
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty 83
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats Verse
Tempo 124 BPM
Meter 4/4
Genre Electronic, Pop, Dance
Melody Range E3 – C#4
Mood Tense, Unexpected, Moody
Most Used Chord i
Chord Complexity 53
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity 45
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension 75
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty 83
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats Chorus
Tempo 124 BPM
Meter 4/4
Genre Electronic, Pop, Dance
Melody Range E3 – C#4
Mood Tense, Unexpected, Moody
Most Used Chord i
Chord Complexity 53
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity 58
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension 68
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty 83
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats Bridge
Tempo 124 BPM
Meter 4/4
Genre Electronic, Pop, Dance
Melody Range B2 – E4
Mood Moody
Most Used Chord iv
Chord Complexity 43
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity 31
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension 57
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty 35
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Concepts
Song Stats Outro
Tempo 124 BPM
Meter 4/4
Genre Electronic, Pop, Dance
Melody Range B2 – D4
Mood Tense, Unexpected, Moody
Most Used Chord i
Chord Complexity 50
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity 36
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension 71
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty 79
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Song Stats All Sections
Tempo 124 BPM
Meter 4/4
Genre Electronic, Pop, Dance
Melody Range B2 – E4
Mood Tense, Unexpected, Moody
Most Used Chord i
Chord Complexity 51
Chord Complexity: Tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity 46
Melodic Complexity: Reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension 68
Chord-Melody Tension: Quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Prog. Novelty 77
Chord Prog. Novelty: Measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.

About The Way It Used To Be

About the Key

About the Chord Progressions

Section Progression Songs with this progression
Intro
Stars of the Night by Callaway and Rosta
Orbion by Armin Van Buuren
The Legend Of Zelda Fairy Theme by Nintendo
Lambada by Kaoma
Satellite by Lena
Naruto Opening Bluebird by Ikimono Gakari
Ahora Quien by Marc Anthony
952 songs →
Verse
Thor's Hammer by Dobu Usagi
Dilemma ft Kelly Rowland by Nelly
Troublemaker by Olly Murs feat Flo Rida
Drive By by Train
All The Things You Are by Jerome Kern
Stars of the Night by Callaway and Rosta
Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach
952 songs →
Chorus
Turn Your Love Around by George Benson
All About Us by tATu
It's a Sin by Pet Shop Boys
Can't Fight The Moonlight by LeAnn Rimes
Bailamos by Enrique Iglesias
Stars of the Night by Callaway and Rosta
If I Could Fly by Joe Satriani
952 songs →
Bridge
Anywhere by Rita Ora
Dreams 4ever (La Cancion De Alicia) by Bad Influence
Rolling Down The Street In My Katamari by Fearofdark
Rain by MIKA
Better Days (with Mae Muller and Polo G) by NEIKED
If I Could Fly by Joe Satriani
Under The Stars (Cancion De Alicia) by Richardvox
55 songs →
Outro
Kirby's Epic Yarn - Big-Bean Vine by Nintendo
Can't Fight The Moonlight by LeAnn Rimes
Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Major Tom - Voellig Losgeloest by Peter Schilling
Overprotected by Britney Spears
Thor's Hammer by Dobu Usagi
It's My Life by No Doubt
952 songs →

About the Melody

Melody data is compiled from all analyzed melody sections, so depending on how a user analyzed a song, "melody" might include instrumental notes.

𝄢
B2 – E4
Melody range across 17 semitones
1.46 beats/note
Across 320.0 beats of melody
Stepwise Motion
Jumpiness
Repeaty
100% Diatonic
Percentage of notes within the song's key.
55% Chord Tones
Percentage of notes that fall on a chord tone of the underlying harmony.
Mixed Consonance
How smoothly the melody blends with the harmony (0 = dissonant, 1 = consonant).
Loose Syncopation
How often the melody emphasizes off-beats. Higher = more syncopated.

About the Metrics

Chord Complexity
Chord Complexity tracks when a song goes beyond simple three-note chords—either by adding extra tones (like 7ths or add9s) or by borrowing notes from outside the key—creating richer, more sophisticated harmonies.
Melodic Complexity
Melodic Complexity reflects two factors: the use of notes outside the key and rhythmic syncopation, together capturing how intricate or surprising a melody feels.
Chord-Melody Tension
Chord-Melody Tension quantifies how often melody notes fall outside the current chord, producing dissonance that creates a sense of instability.
Chord Progression Novelty
Chord Progression Novelty measures how uncommon a song's chord changes are compared to others in the Hooktheory database, highlighting progressions that deviate from typical patterns.
Chord-Bass Melody
Chord–Bass Melody evaluates how smoothly the bass moves between chords, scoring higher when it travels step-wise, ascending or descending, instead of jumping directly between root position chords.

Hooktheory's metrics are calculated against the entire database of analyzed songs, where 50 is the "average song." Learn more about each of these metrics here.

Chord Complexity
51
Measures how diverse and sophisticated the chord vocabulary is in this song.
Percentile: 51/100 — above average
Melodic Complexity
46
Measures the range, intervallic variety, and rhythmic complexity of the melody.
Percentile: 46/100 — below average
Chord-Melody Tension
68
Measures how much the melody notes clash or harmonize with the underlying chords.
Percentile: 68/100 — above average
Chord Prog. Novelty
77
Measures how unusual or unexpected the chord progressions are compared to common patterns.
Percentile: 77/100 — above average
Chord-Bass Melody
19
Measures the melodic movement of the bass notes across chord changes.
Percentile: 19/100 — below average

Metrics Radar Chart

The Way It Used To BeAverage Song

BPM Comparison

Melody Distribution

1
2
3
4
5
6
7

Melodic Intervals

Distribution of note-to-note jumps in semitones (negative = downward, positive = upward)

Note Durations

How long each note is held (in beats)

Syncopation

How many notes fall on each level of metric strength (0 = on-beat, higher = increasingly off-beat)

Level 0
Notes that fall on the downbeat — the strongest metric position in the measure.
Level 1
Notes on a secondary strong beat (e.g. beat 3 in 4/4) — still firmly on the grid.
Level 2
Notes on the remaining primary beats (2 and 4 in 4/4) — moderate metric weight.
Level 3
Notes on eighth-note offbeats — between the primary beats. Audibly syncopated.

Created and Maintained by You

TheoryTab is the world's largest collection of songs analyzed by their underlying chord progressions and melodies. Every tab is crowd-sourced and community-maintained — contributed by musicians like you who want to help others understand how music works.

Unlike traditional tabs or sheet music, TheoryTabs reveal the function of each chord and note, making it easy to see patterns, compare songs, and discover what makes your favorite music tick.

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Frequently Asked
Questions

Everything you need to know about TheoryTab.

TheoryTab is the world's largest database of songs analyzed by their chord progressions and melodies. Each entry breaks a song into its harmonic and melodic components using relative notation, making it easy to see the music theory behind any song.
TheoryTabs are crowd-sourced and community-maintained. Musicians use Hookpad — our intelligent music sketchpad — to transcribe songs by ear, identifying the chords and melodies and entering them in a standardized format that anyone can read and learn from.
Roman numerals represent chords by their position in a key rather than by letter name. For example, in the key of C major, I = C, IV = F, V = G, and vi = Am. This relative notation makes it easy to compare chord progressions across songs in different keys. Click here to learn more about relative notation.
Yes! Anyone can contribute. Visit our Contributor Guide to learn how to use Hookpad to transcribe songs. Your contributions help musicians worldwide learn and understand music theory through real songs.

All of our TheoryTabs are contributed to our site by users like you! Every TheoryTab can be revised at any time by any registered user. Each TheoryTab has a full version history similar to Wikipedia.

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Relative notation describes chords and notes by their function within a key, rather than by their absolute pitch. This means a I–V–vi–IV progression is the same pattern whether the song is in C major, G major, or any other key — making it much easier to recognize common patterns across songs.