Lovely Rita by The Beatles

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Outro → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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.

Key changes

• Outro 2 moves to A major.

Section by section

Intro

• B – A – E (×2)
  V – IV – I
• B
  V

Verse 1

• E – D – A – E – B – C♯m – F♯ – B
  I – bVII – IV – I – V – vi – II – V

Bridge 1

• E – A – D – G – E – B (×2)
  I – IV – bVII – bIII – I – V
• E – C♯m – F♯m – B
  I – vi – ii – V

Verse 2

• E – D – A – E – B – C♯m – F♯ – B – A/B – E/B – B – A/B – B
  I – bVII – IV – I – V – vi – II – V – IV (bass B) – I⁶₄ – V – IV (bass B) – V

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Verse 4

• E – D – A – E – B – C♯m – F♯
  I – bVII – IV – I – V – vi – II

Outro 1

• B – A – E (×2)
  V – IV – I
• B
  V

Outro 2

• Asus4(no5) – A7(no3) – D7(no3)
  Isus4(no5) – I7(no3) – IV7(no3)

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• G (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• A7(no3) (I7(no3)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• D7(no3) (IV7(no3)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• F♯ acts as V/V: it resolves to B.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo).
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• 1 chord was simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.