Little Red Corvette by Prince

Overview

Key: D♭ major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 18

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Verse → Chorus ×2 → Verse → Chorus ×3 → Verse → Verse → Chorus ×4

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.

Section by section

Intro

• G♭ – A♭ – B♭m (×2)
  IV – V – vi
• G♭
  IV

Verse 1

• G♭ – A♭ – B♭m (×2)
  IV – V – vi
• G♭
  IV

Verse 2

• G♭ – A♭ – B♭m (×2)
  IV – V – vi
• A♭
  V

Chorus 1

• G♭ – A♭ – D♭ – G♭ – A♭ – B♭m – G♭ – A♭ – D♭ – G♭ – A♭
  IV – V – I – IV – V – vi – IV – V – I – IV – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 6

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 6

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 7

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 7

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 8

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 9

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 10

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G♭	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus
A♭	V	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus
B♭m	vi	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus
D♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	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 99% 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.