Perfidia by The Ventures

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 17 · Sections: 11

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

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.

Key changes

• Verse 2 moves to D major.

Section by section

Intro 1

• C – Em/B – F/A – G (×2)
  I – iii⁶₄ – IV⁶ – V

Verse 1

• C – Am – Dm – G (×3)
  I – vi – ii – V
• E7 – G
  III7 – V

Chorus 1

• C – Am – Dm – G (×3)
  I – vi – ii – V
• C – F – C
  I – IV – I

Bridge 1

• F – E7 (×2)
  IV – III7
• G
  V

Chorus 2

• C – Am – Dm – G (×3)
  I – vi – ii – V
• C – F – C – G
  I – IV – I – V

Interlude

• C
  I

Intro 2

• C – Em/B – F/A – G – D – F♯m/C♯ – G/B – A
  I – iii⁶₄ – IV⁶ – V – II – #iv⁶₄ – V⁶ – VI

Verse 2

• D – Bm – Em – A (×3)
  I – vi – ii – V
• F♯7 – A
  III7 – V

Chorus 3

• D – Bm – Em – A (×3)
  I – vi – ii – V
• D – Gm – D
  I – iv – I

Bridge 2

• G – F♯ (×2)
  IV – III
• A
  V

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 3.

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Gm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0926, 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.