Little Too Late by Pat Benatar

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Interlude → Chorus → Chorus → Chorus

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). 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

• B – E/G♯ – A (×4)
  V – I⁶ – IV

Verse 1

• E – A – C♯m – D – A (×2)
  I – IV – vi – bVII – IV
• B – E/G♯ – Aadd9 (×2)
  V – I⁶ – IVadd9
• E/G♯ – A (×3)
  I⁶ – IV
• B – Bsus4 (×2)
  V – Vsus4
• B
  V

Chorus 1

• Eadd11 – E (×2)
  Iadd11 – I
• A/E – A6/E – A/E – A – G♯m – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – B – E – B
  IV⁶₄ – IV6 (bass E) – IV⁶₄ – IV – iii – ii7 – iii7 – V – I – V
• Eadd11 – E (×2)
  Iadd11 – I
• A/E – A6/E – A/E – A – G♯m – F♯m7 – G♯m7
  IV⁶₄ – IV6 (bass E) – IV⁶₄ – IV – iii – ii7 – iii7
• B – E (×2)
  V – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Interlude

• B – E/G♯ – A (×4)
  V – I⁶ – IV

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 4

• A – G♯m – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – B
  IV – iii – ii7 – iii7 – V

Chorus 5

• Eadd11 – E (×2)
  Iadd11 – I
• A/E – A6/E – A/E – A – G♯m – F♯m7 – G♯m7 – B – E – B
  IV⁶₄ – IV6 (bass E) – IV⁶₄ – IV – iii – ii7 – iii7 – V – I – V
• Eadd11 – E (×2)
  Iadd11 – I
• A/E – A6/E – A/E – A – G♯m
  IV⁶₄ – IV6 (bass E) – IV⁶₄ – IV – iii
• F♯m7 – G♯m7 – B (×3)
  ii7 – iii7 – V
• E
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0973, CC0), via ChoCo.
• 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.