Superstition by Stevie Wonder

Overview

Key: E♭ minor · Chords used: 6 · Sections: 14

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

• E♭m7
  i7

Verse 1

• E♭m7
  i7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 1

• B♭ – B – B♭ – A – A♭ – B♭aug – E♭m7
  V – #V – V – #IV – IV – V+ – i7

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 6

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 7

Same chords as Verse 1.

Verse 8

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• E♭m7
  i7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E♭m7	i7	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Outro
B♭	V	In the key	Chorus
B	#V	In the key	Chorus
A	#IV	Outside the key (chromatic)	Chorus
A♭	IV	Borrowed from E♭ major	Chorus
B♭aug	V+	In the key	Chorus

Harmonic highlights

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

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.
• 4 chords were simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.