Should I Stay or Should I Go? by The Clash

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse ×3 → 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.

Section by section

Intro

• D – G (×4)
  I – IV
• D
  I

Verse 1

• D – G (×3)
  I – IV
• F
  bIII
• G – D (×2)
  IV – I
• A – D – G – D
  V – I – IV – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus

• D – G (×3)
  I – IV
• F
  bIII
• G – D (×2)
  IV – I
• A – D – G – D
  V – I – IV – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• D – G (×2)
  I – IV
• F
  bIII
• G – D (×2)
  IV – I
• A – D – G – D
  V – I – IV – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
D	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Outro
G	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Outro
F	bIII	Borrowed from D minor	Verse, Chorus, Outro
A	V	In the key	Verse, Chorus, Outro

Harmonic highlights

• F (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

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 98% 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.