Sun King by The Beatles

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 15 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Solo → Chorus → Bridge → Chorus → Verse

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). 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

• E – E6
  I – I6

Solo

• F♯m7 – B6 – E6 (×2)
  ii7 – V6 – I6
• F♯m7 – Gm7 – G♯m7/B – E6 – G9sus4
  ii7 – biii7 – iii⁶₅ – I6 – bIII9sus4

Chorus 1

• C – Cmaj7 – G – A (×2)
  bVI – bVImaj7 – bIII – IV

Bridge

• F – D7 (×2)
  bII – bVII7

Chorus 2

• C – Em7 – C7 – F
  bVI – i7 – bVI7 – bII

Verse

• F♯m7 – B6 – E6 (×3)
  ii7 – V6 – I6

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• Cmaj7 (bVImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• G (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• D7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.
• Em7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Isophonics reference annotations (Centre for Digital Music, Queen Mary University of London). Expert chord and structure annotation of the original recording (CC BY 4.0 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.