Soldier of Fortune by Deep Purple

Overview

Key: E minor · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 2

Form: A Section → Outro

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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

A Section

• Em – Bm – A
  i – v – IV
• Em – D – Em – Bm (×2)
  i – bVII – i – v
• G – Am – Em – C – D – G – B – Em – D – G – C – Am – Bm
  bIII – iv – i – bVI – bVII – bIII – V – i – bVII – bIII – bVI – iv – v
• Em – Am (×2)
  i – iv
• Em – G – Am
  i – bIII – iv
• Em – D – Em – Bm (×2)
  i – bVII – i – v
• G – Am – Em – C – D – G – B – Em – D – G – C – Am – Bm
  bIII – iv – i – bVI – bVII – bIII – V – i – bVII – bIII – bVI – iv – v
• Em – Am (×2)
  i – iv
• Em – G – Am
  i – bIII – iv
• Em – D – Em – Bm (×2)
  i – bVII – i – v
• G – Am – Em – C – D – G – B – Em – D – G – C – Am – Bm – Em
  bIII – iv – i – bVI – bVII – bIII – V – i – bVII – bIII – bVI – iv – v – i

Outro

• Em – D – G – C – Am – Bm – Em – C – Bm7 – E
  i – bVII – bIII – bVI – iv – v – i – bVI – v7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Em	i	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, Outro
Bm	v	In the key	A Section, Outro
A	IV	Borrowed from E major	A Section
D	bVII	In the key	A Section, Outro
G	bIII	In the key	A Section, Outro
Am	iv	In the key	A Section, Outro
C	bVI	In the key	A Section, Outro
B	V	In the key	A Section
Bm7	v7	In the key	Outro
E	I	Borrowed from E major	Outro

Harmonic highlights

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

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Soldier Of Fortune” (credited “Purple Deep”, style Slow Rock) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Soldier Of Fortune” (credited “Purple Deep”, style Slow Rock) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 89%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• The chart's D.S./D.C./coda jumps have been written out in playing order.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.