Iron Man by Black Sabbath

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 15

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:28)

• B5 – D5
  VII5 – II5

Part 2 (0:29)

• E5 – G5 – D5 – E5 – B5 – D5 – E5 – G5 – D5
  III5 – V5 – II5 – III5 – VII5 – II5 – III5 – V5 – II5

Part 3 (0:40)

• E5 – B5 – D5 – E5 – G5 – D5 – E5 – B5 – D5 – E5
  III5 – VII5 – II5 – III5 – V5 – II5 – III5 – VII5 – II5 – III5

Part 4 (1:35)

• G5 – D5 – E5 – B5 – D5 – E5 – G5 – D5 – E5
  V5 – II5 – III5 – VII5 – II5 – III5 – V5 – II5 – III5

Part 5 (1:59)

• D5 – B5 – E5 – D5
  II5 – VII5 – III5 – II5

Part 6 (2:15)

• B5 – D5 – E5 – G5 – D5 – E5 – B5 – D5 – E5
  VII5 – II5 – III5 – V5 – II5 – III5 – VII5 – II5 – III5

Part 7 (2:31)

• G5 – D5 – E5 – D5 – B5 – E5
  V5 – II5 – III5 – II5 – VII5 – III5

Part 8 (3:00)

• D5 – B5 – D5
  II5 – VII5 – II5

Part 9 (3:59)

• E5 – G5 – D5 – E5 – B5 – D5 – E5 – G5 – D5 – E5
  III5 – V5 – II5 – III5 – VII5 – II5 – III5 – V5 – II5 – III5

Part 10 (4:10)

• E5
  III5

Part 11 (4:22)

Same chords as Part 10 (4:10).

Part 12 (5:05)

• C5
  I5

Part 13 (5:18)

Same chords as Part 12 (5:05).

Part 14 (5:30)

Same chords as Part 12 (5:05).

Part 15 (5:42)

Same chords as Part 12 (5:05).

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Paranoid), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Paranoid), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.