Light My Fire by The Doors

Overview

Key: D♭ major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 12

Form: Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → 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

• Verse 1 moves to A♭ minor.
• Chorus 2 moves to D♭ major.
• Verse 2 moves to A♭ minor.
• Chorus 3 moves to D♭ major.
• Solo moves to A♭ minor.
• Chorus 4 moves to G♭ major.
• Verse 3 moves to A♭ minor.
• Chorus 5 moves to D♭ major.
• Verse 4 moves to A♭ minor.
• Chorus 6 moves to D♭ major.
• Chorus 7 moves to G♭ major.

Section by section

Chorus 1

• G♭ – D♭ – E – A – D – G – A♭
  I – V – #VI – #II – #V – #I – II

Verse 1

• A♭m – Fm (×4)
  i – vi

Chorus 2

• G♭ – A♭ – D♭ (×2)
  IV – V – I
• B♭ – G♭ – D♭ – E♭maj7 – E♭7
  VI – IV – I – IImaj7 – II7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Solo

• A♭m – B♭m (×140)
  i – ii

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 2.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 6

• G♭ – A♭ – D♭ (×2)
  IV – V – I
• E – B – D♭ (×4)
  #II – #VI – I

Chorus 7

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G♭	I (in G♭ major)	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus
D♭	V (in G♭ major)	In the key	Chorus
E	#VI (in G♭ major)	Borrowed from G♭ minor	Chorus
A	#II (in G♭ major)	Borrowed from G♭ minor	Chorus
D	#V (in G♭ major)	Borrowed from G♭ minor	Chorus
G	#I (in G♭ major)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
A♭	II (in G♭ major)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
A♭m	i (in A♭ minor)	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Solo
Fm	vi (in A♭ minor)	Borrowed from A♭ major	Verse
G♭	IV	In the key	Chorus
A♭	V	In the key	Chorus
D♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Chorus
B♭	VI	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
E♭maj7	IImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
E♭7	II7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
B♭m	ii (in A♭ minor)	Borrowed from A♭ major	Solo
E	#II	Borrowed from D♭ minor	Chorus
B	#VI	Borrowed from D♭ minor	Chorus

Harmonic highlights

• E (#VI) is borrowed from the parallel key, G♭ minor.
• A (#II) is borrowed from the parallel key, G♭ minor.
• D (#V) is borrowed from the parallel key, G♭ minor.
• Fm (vi) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ major.
• B♭m (ii) is borrowed from the parallel key, A♭ major.
• E (#II) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ minor.
• B (#VI) is borrowed from the parallel key, D♭ 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 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.