Stand by Me by Ben E. King

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Chorus → Verse ×2 → Chorus → Solo → Solo → Chorus

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

• A – F♯m – D – E – A
  I – vi – IV – V – I

Verse 1

• A – F♯m – D – E – A
  I – vi – IV – V – I

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 1

• A – F♯m – D – E – A
  I – vi – IV – V – I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo 1

• A – F♯m – D – E – A
  I – vi – IV – V – I

Solo 2

Same chords as Solo 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Solo
F♯m	vi	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Solo
D	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Solo
E	V	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Solo

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 100% 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.