I Wanna Be Sedated by The Ramones

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 16

Form: Transition → Transition → Chorus → Pre-Chorus → Transition → Chorus → Pre-Chorus → Solo → Transition → Chorus → Pre-Chorus → Transition → Chorus → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → 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.

Key changes

• Chorus 3 moves to F♯ major.

Section by section

Transition 1

• E
  I

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Chorus 1

• E – A (×2)
  I – IV
• E
  I

Pre-Chorus 1

• B – E (×3)
  V – I
• A – B
  IV – V

Transition 3

Same chords as Transition 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Pre-Chorus 2

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 1.

Solo

• E – A – B (×2)
  I – IV – V
• E
  I

Transition 4

Same chords as Transition 1.

Chorus 3

• F♯ – B (×2)
  I – IV
• F♯
  I

Pre-Chorus 3

• C♯ – F♯ (×3)
  V – I
• B – C♯
  IV – V

Transition 5

• F♯
  I

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 3.

Pre-Chorus 4

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 3.

Chorus 5

• F♯ – B – C♯ (×2)
  I – IV – V
• F♯
  I

Chorus 6

Same chords as Chorus 5.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E	I	Home chord (tonic)	Transition, Chorus, Pre-Chorus, Solo
A	IV	In the key	Chorus, Pre-Chorus, Solo
B	V	In the key	Pre-Chorus, Solo
F♯	I (in F♯ major)	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus, Pre-Chorus, Transition
B	IV (in F♯ major)	In the key	Chorus, Pre-Chorus
C♯	V (in F♯ major)	In the key	Pre-Chorus, Chorus

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.