Karma Police by Radiohead

Overview

Key: E minor · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 20

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 (0:00)

• Am – D9/F♯ – Em – G – Amadd9 – F – Em – G
  iv – bVII9 (bass F♯) – i – bIII – ivadd9 – bII – i – bIII

Part 2 (0:13)

• Amadd9 – D – G – D/F♯ – C/E – Em7/D – Am – Bm – D
  ivadd9 – bVII – bIII – bVII⁶ – bVI⁶ – i⁴₂ – iv – v – bVII

Part 3 (0:26)

Same chords as Part 1 (0:00).

Part 4 (0:39)

• Am – D – G – Gmaj7 – C – Em7/B – Am – Bm – D
  iv – bVII – bIII – bIIImaj7 – bVI – i⁴₃ – iv – v – bVII

Part 5 (0:52)

Same chords as Part 1 (0:00).

Part 6 (1:05)

• Am – D – G – D/A – C – Em7/B – Am – Bm – D
  iv – bVII – bIII – bVII⁶₄ – bVI – i⁴₃ – iv – v – bVII

Part 7 (1:18)

• C – D/A – G – F♯ (×2)
  bVI – bVII⁶₄ – bIII – II

Part 8 (1:30)

• C – D/A – G – Bm/F♯ – C – Bm – D
  bVI – bVII⁶₄ – bIII – v⁶₄ – bVI – v – bVII

Part 9 (1:43)

Same chords as Part 1 (0:00).

Part 10 (1:56)

Same chords as Part 6 (1:05).

Part 11 (2:08)

Same chords as Part 7 (1:18).

Part 12 (2:21)

• C – D/A – G – Bm/F♯ – C – Bm
  bVI – bVII⁶₄ – bIII – v⁶₄ – bVI – v

Part 13 (2:34)

• D – G (×2)
  bVII – bIII
• D – E
  bVII – I

Part 14 (2:46)

• Bm
  v
• D – G (×2)
  bVII – bIII
• D – E
  bVII – I

Part 15 (2:59)

• Bm
  v
• D – G (×2)
  bVII – bIII
• D – Esus4 – E
  bVII – Isus4 – I

Part 16 (3:12)

Same chords as Part 14 (2:46).

Part 17 (3:25)

Same chords as Part 14 (2:46).

Part 18 (3:37)

• Bm
  v
• D – G (×2)
  bVII – bIII
• D – E9
  bVII – I9

Part 19 (3:50)

Same chords as Part 18 (3:37).

Part 20 (4:03)

• Bm – Esus2 – E
  v – Isus2 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• E (I) is borrowed from the parallel key, E major.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (OK Computer), 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 (OK Computer), 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.