Earth Angel by The Penguins

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Chorus → Chorus → Bridge → Chorus → Bridge → Chorus

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

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ (×2)
  I – vi – IV – V

Chorus 1

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ (×4)
  I – vi – IV – V

Chorus 2

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ (×3)
  I – vi – IV – V
• A♭ – D♭ – A♭
  I – IV – I

Bridge 1

• D♭ – A♭ (×3)
  IV – I
• B♭ – E♭
  II – V

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Chorus 4

• A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ (×3)
  I – vi – IV – V
• A♭
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
A♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Chorus, Bridge
Fm	vi	In the key	Intro, Chorus
D♭	IV	In the key	Intro, Chorus, Bridge
E♭	V	In the key	Intro, Chorus, Bridge
B♭	II	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• B♭ acts as V/V: it resolves to E♭.
• The Intro loops A♭ – Fm – D♭ – E♭ (I – vi – IV – V), a rotation of the ’50s progression (I–vi–IV–V family).

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.