Louie Louie by The Kingsmen

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 3 · Sections: 13

Form: Intro → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Solo → Interlude → Verse → Chorus → Outro → 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

• A – D – Em – D (×2)
  I – IV – v – IV

Chorus 1

• A – D – Em – D (×4)
  I – IV – v – IV

Verse 1

• A – D – Em – D (×4)
  I – IV – v – IV

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo 1

• A – D – Em – D (×4)
  I – IV – v – IV

Solo 2

Same chords as Solo 1.

Interlude

• A – D – Em – D
  I – IV – v – IV

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro 1

• A – D – Em – D (×2)
  I – IV – v – IV

Outro 2

• A
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Solo, Interlude, Outro
D	IV	In the key	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Solo, Interlude, Outro
Em	v	Borrowed from A minor	Intro, Chorus, Verse, Solo, Interlude, Outro

Harmonic highlights

• Em (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, A 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.