The song was initially composed in C, but was played in F on Rubber Soul (with a capo on the fifth fret). The verse opens with an F major chord ("Michelle" – melody note C) then the second chord (on "ma belle" – melody note D) is a B79 (on the original demo in C, the second chord is a F79). McCartney called this second chord a "great ham-fisted jazz chord" that was taught to them by Jim Gretty who worked at Hessey's music shop in Whitechapel, central Liverpool and which George Harrison uses (as a G79) (see Dominant seventh sharp ninth chord) as the penultimate chord of his solo on "Till There Was You". After the E6 (of "these are words") there follows an ascent involving different inversions of the D dim chord. These progress from Adim on "go" – melody note F, bass note D; to Bdim (Cdim) on "to" – melody note A, bass note D; to Ddim on "ge ..." – melody note B (C) bass note B; to Bdim on ... 'ther ..." – melody note A bass note B, till the dominant (V) chord (C major) is reached on "well" – melody note G bass note C.
