Spirits in the Material World by The Police

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Transition → Solo → Verse → 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.

Section by section

Intro

• Amadd9 – Am/C – G – Em (×4)
  iadd9 – i⁶ – bVII – v

Verse 1

• Amadd9 – Am/C – G – Em (×8)
  iadd9 – i⁶ – bVII – v

Chorus 1

• D – G – C (×4)
  IV – bVII – bIII

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Transition

• Dm7 – Fadd9 – Am7 – F – Dm
  iv7 – bVIadd9 – i7 – bVI – iv

Solo

• Amadd9 – Am/C – G – Em (×4)
  iadd9 – i⁶ – bVII – v

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

• D – G – C (×10)
  IV – bVII – bIII

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

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

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0148, 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.