Rock Lobster by The B-52's

Overview

Key: C minor · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 17

Form: Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Bridge → Transition → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Verse → Bridge → Transition → 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.

Key changes

• Outro moves to F minor.

Section by section

Transition 1

• Cm – Fm/A♭ – G (×4)
  i – iv⁶ – V

Verse 1

• Cm – Fm/A♭ – G (×4)
  i – iv⁶ – V

Chorus 1

• Cm – E♭ – A♭ – G (×8)
  i – bIII – bVI – V
• A♭ – G (×4)
  bVI – V

Transition 2

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 2

• Cm – Fm/A♭ – G (×6)
  i – iv⁶ – V

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 3

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Bridge 1

• Cm
  i

Transition 4

Same chords as Transition 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 2.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition 5

• Cm – Fm/A♭ – G (×6)
  i – iv⁶ – V

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Bridge 2

Same chords as Bridge 1.

Transition 6

• Cm – Fm/A♭ – G (×2)
  i – iv⁶ – V

Outro

• Fm – E♭ (×4)
  i – bVII
• Fm
  i

Chord vocabulary

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 87% of the song.
• Not verified: the two RS 200 analysts differ in places (see their agreement above).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.