All Apologies by Nirvana

Overview

Key: D♭ major · Chords used: 3 · Sections: 14

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse ×2 → Chorus → Interlude → Verse ×5 → Outro

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

• D♭7
  I7

Verse 1

• D♭7
  I7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 1

• G♭ – A♭
  IV – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude

• A♭
  V

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 6

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 7

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 8

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 9

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• D♭7
  I7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
D♭7	I7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, Verse, Outro
G♭	IV	In the key	Chorus
A♭	V	In the key	Chorus, Interlude

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 100% 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.