Losing My Religion by R.E.M.

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 13

Form: Intro → Bridge → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse ×2 → Bridge → Interlude → Verse → Interlude → Bridge → 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

• G
  bVII

Bridge 1

• F – G – Am (×2)
  bVI – bVII – i
• G
  bVII

Verse 1

• Am – Em (×3)
  i – v
• Dm – G
  iv – bVII

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 3

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Interlude 1

• Am – G – F – G
  i – bVII – bVI – bVII
• C – Dm7 (×2)
  bIII – iv7

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude 2

• F – G – Am (×2)
  bVI – bVII – i

Bridge 4

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Outro

• Am
  i

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G	bVII	In the key	Intro, Bridge, Verse, Interlude
F	bVI	In the key	Bridge, Interlude
Am	i	Home chord (tonic)	Bridge, Verse, Interlude, Outro
Em	v	In the key	Verse
Dm	iv	In the key	Verse
C	bIII	In the key	Interlude
Dm7	iv7	In the key	Interlude

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 97% 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.