Surfin' Safari by The Beach Boys

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Solo → Verse → Chorus → Outro

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

• E – D – B – E
  V – IV – II – V

Verse 1

• A – D – E (×2)
  I – IV – V
• A
  I

Chorus 1

• A – D – A – E – D – B – E
  I – IV – I – V – IV – II – V

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Solo

• A – D – E (×2)
  I – IV – V
• A
  I

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• A
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E	V	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Solo
D	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Solo
B	II	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Intro, Chorus
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Chorus, Solo, Outro

Harmonic highlights

• B acts as V/V: it resolves to E.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0838, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Cross-check: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Surfin USA Surfin Safari), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Independently transcribed; it matches this page's chords closely (similarity 100%).
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.