Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Interlude → Verse → Interlude → Verse → Bridge → Interlude → Verse → Interlude → 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

• A9
  V9

Interlude 1

• Em7
  ii7
• D – G/B – Asus4 (×2)
  I – IV⁶ – Vsus4

Verse 1

• Asus4 – D – G/B (×5)
  Vsus4 – I – IV⁶
• Asus4
  Vsus4

Interlude 2

• Asus4 – D – G/B – Asus4
  Vsus4 – I – IV⁶ – Vsus4

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge

• Asus4
  Vsus4

Interlude 3

• Asus4 – D – G/B (×2)
  Vsus4 – I – IV⁶
• Asus4
  Vsus4

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude 4

Same chords as Interlude 3.

Outro

• Asus4 – D – G/B (×4)
  Vsus4 – I – IV⁶
• Asus4
  Vsus4

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 74% 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.