Santeria by Sublime

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 8 · Sections: 18

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). 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

Part 1 (0:00)

• E
  I

Part 2 (0:01)

• G♯ – C♯m – B
  III – vi – V

Part 3 (0:11)

• E – G♯ – C♯m – B
  I – III – vi – V

Part 4 (0:22)

Same chords as Part 3 (0:11).

Part 5 (0:33)

• A – B – E – D♯m – C♯m – A – B – E – D♯m
  IV – V – I – vii – vi – IV – V – I – vii

Part 6 (0:43)

• C♯m – A – B – E – D♯m – C♯m – A – B – E
  vi – IV – V – I – vii – vi – IV – V – I

Part 7 (0:54)

• G♯ – C♯m – B – E
  III – vi – V – I

Part 8 (1:04)

• G♯ – C♯m – B – A
  III – vi – V – IV

Part 9 (1:15)

• B – E – D♯m – C♯m – A (×2)
  V – I – vii – vi – IV

Part 10 (1:26)

• B – E – D♯m – C♯m – A – B – E – G♯
  V – I – vii – vi – IV – V – I – III

Part 11 (1:36)

• C♯m – B – E – G♯
  vi – V – I – III

Part 12 (1:47)

• C♯m – B – A – B – E – D♯m
  vi – V – IV – V – I – vii

Part 13 (1:57)

• C♯m – A – B – E – D♯m (×2)
  vi – IV – V – I – vii

Part 14 (2:08)

• C♯m – A – B – E – G♯ – C♯m
  vi – IV – V – I – III – vi

Part 15 (2:19)

• B – E – G♯ – C♯m
  V – I – III – vi

Part 16 (2:29)

• B – A – B – E – D♯m – C♯m – A
  V – IV – V – I – vii – vi – IV

Part 17 (2:40)

• B – E – D♯m – C♯m – A – B – E – D♯ – C♯m – A
  V – I – vii – vi – IV – V – I – VII – vi – IV

Part 18 (2:50)

• B – E – D♯ – C♯m – B – A – B – E7
  V – I – VII – vi – V – IV – V – I7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• G♯ acts as V/vi: it resolves to C♯m.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Sublime), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Sublime), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• 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.