Lust for Life by Iggy Pop

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Verse → 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 – E (×2)
  I – V
• G – D – E – A
  bVII – IV – V – I

Verse 1

• A – E (×2)
  I – V
• G – D – E – A
  bVII – IV – V – I

Transition

• A
  I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus

• A – E (×2)
  I – V
• G – D – E – A
  bVII – IV – V – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• A – E – A
  I – V – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Transition, Chorus, Outro
E	V	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Outro
G	bVII	Borrowed from A minor	Intro, Verse, Chorus
D	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus

Harmonic highlights

• G (bVII) 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.