London Calling by The Clash

Overview

Key: E minor · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Intro → Outro

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 1

• Em – C (×6)
  i – bVI

Verse 1

• Em – F – Em/G – G (×4)
  i – bII – i⁶ – bIII

Chorus 1

• Em – G (×3)
  i – bIII
• Em – D
  i – bVII

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Intro 2

• Em – C (×4)
  i – bVI

Outro

• Em – C (×6)
  i – bVI
• Em
  i

Chord vocabulary

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 85% of the song.
• Not verified: the two RS 200 analysts differ in places (see their agreement above).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.