Not Fade Away by The Rolling Stones

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 6

Form: Verse → Verse → Interlude → Verse → Solo → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). 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

Verse 1

• E – A – D/A – A – E – A/E – E – A – D/A – A – E
  I – IV – bVII⁶₄ – IV – I – IV⁶₄ – I – IV – bVII⁶₄ – IV – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Interlude

• A – D/A – A – D/A – A – E – A/E – E – A/E – E (×2)
  IV – bVII⁶₄ – IV – bVII⁶₄ – IV – I – IV⁶₄ – I – IV⁶₄ – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Solo

• E
  I

Outro

• E – A (×2)
  I – IV
• E
  I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• D/A (bVII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0457, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.