A Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harum

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 11

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Verse → Verse → Intro → Verse ×2 → Verse → Verse → Intro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. 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 1

• C – Em/B – Am – C/G – F – Am/E – Dm – F/C – G – C – F – G
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – vi⁶₄ – ii – IV⁶₄ – V – I – IV – V

Verse 1

• C – Em/B – Am – C/G – F – Am/E – Dm – F/C – G
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – vi⁶₄ – ii – IV⁶₄ – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 3

• C – Em/B – Am – C/G – F – Am/E – Dm – G
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – vi⁶₄ – ii – V

Verse 4

• C – Em/B – Am – C/G – F – Am/E – Dm – F/C – G – C – F – C – G
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – vi⁶₄ – ii – IV⁶₄ – V – I – IV – I – V

Intro 2

Same chords as Intro 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 6

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 7

Same chords as Verse 3.

Verse 8

Same chords as Verse 4.

Intro 3

Same chords as Intro 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
C	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse
Em/B	iii⁶₄	In the key	Intro, Verse
Am	vi	In the key	Intro, Verse
C/G	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse
F	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse
Am/E	vi⁶₄	In the key	Intro, Verse
Dm	ii	In the key	Intro, Verse
F/C	IV⁶₄	In the key	Intro, Verse
G	V	In the key	Intro, Verse

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 93% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.