Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones

Overview

Key: E minor · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 18

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse ×7

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

• Em – B – Em
  i – V – i

Verse 1

• Em – B (×2)
  i – V

Chorus 1

• Em – D – G – D (×2)
  i – bVII – bIII – bVII
• A – B
  IV – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 6

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 7

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 8

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 9

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 10

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 11

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 12

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Em	i	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus
B	V	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus
D	bVII	In the key	Chorus
G	bIII	In the key	Chorus
A	IV	Borrowed from E major	Chorus

Harmonic highlights

• A (IV) is borrowed from the parallel key, E major.

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.