God Only Knows by The Beach Boys

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Chorus ×5

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.

Key changes

• Verse 3 moves to A major.
• Verse 4 moves to E major.

Section by section

Intro

• A – E (×2)
  IV – I
• A – E/G♯ – F♯m7 – A/E
  IV – I⁶ – ii7 – IV⁶₄

Verse 1

• D/A – Bm – F♯m – B7/A – E/B – D♯dim7/C – E/B – F♯maj7/A♯ – A – E/G♯ – F♯m7 – E
  bVII⁶₄ – v – ii – V⁴₂ – I⁶₄ – vii°⁴₂ – I⁶₄ – IImaj⁶₅ – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I

Verse 2

• D/A – Bm – F♯m – B7/A – E/B – D♯dim7/C – E/B – F♯maj7/A♯ – A – E/G♯ – F♯m7
  bVII⁶₄ – v – ii – V⁴₂ – I⁶₄ – vii°⁴₂ – I⁶₄ – IImaj⁶₅ – IV – I⁶ – ii7

Bridge

• A/E – G (×2)
  IV⁶₄ – bIII

Verse 3

• G/D – Em – Bm – E7/D – A/E – G♯dim7/F – A/E – Bmaj7/D♯ – D – A/C♯ – Bm7
  bVII⁶₄ – v – ii – V⁴₂ – I⁶₄ – vii°⁴₂ – I⁶₄ – IImaj⁶₅ – IV – I⁶ – ii7

Verse 4

• D/A – Bm – F♯m – B7/A – E/B – D♯dim7/C – E/B – F♯maj7/A♯ – A – E/G♯ – F♯m7 – E/G♯
  bVII⁶₄ – v – ii – V⁴₂ – I⁶₄ – vii°⁴₂ – I⁶₄ – IImaj⁶₅ – IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I⁶

Chorus 1

• A – E/G♯ – F♯m7 – E/G♯
  IV – I⁶ – ii7 – I⁶

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 6

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
A	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus
E	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse
E/G♯	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus
F♯m7	ii7	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus
A/E	IV⁶₄	In the key	Intro, Bridge
D/A	bVII⁶₄	Borrowed from E minor	Verse
Bm	v	Borrowed from E minor	Verse
F♯m	ii	In the key	Verse
B7/A	V⁴₂	In the key	Verse
E/B	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Verse
D♯dim7/C	vii°⁴₂	Borrowed from E minor	Verse
F♯maj7/A♯	IImaj⁶₅	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse
G	bIII	Borrowed from E minor	Bridge
G/D	bVII⁶₄ (in A major)	Borrowed from A minor	Verse
Em	v (in A major)	Borrowed from A minor	Verse
Bm	ii (in A major)	In the key	Verse
E7/D	V⁴₂ (in A major)	In the key	Verse
A/E	I⁶₄ (in A major)	Home chord (tonic)	Verse
G♯dim7/F	vii°⁴₂ (in A major)	Borrowed from A minor	Verse
Bmaj7/D♯	IImaj⁶₅ (in A major)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse
D	IV (in A major)	In the key	Verse
A/C♯	I⁶ (in A major)	Home chord (tonic)	Verse
Bm7	ii7 (in A major)	In the key	Verse

Harmonic highlights

• D/A (bVII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• Bm (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• D♯dim7/C (vii°⁴₂) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• G (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• G/D (bVII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Em (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• G♯dim7/F (vii°⁴₂) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

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 90% 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.