Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 4 · Sections: 11

Form: Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → 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

Verse 1

• E – D – A (×4)
  I – bVII – IV
• E
  I

Chorus 1

• B – E (×2)
  V – I

Verse 2

• E – D – A (×3)
  I – bVII – IV
• E
  I

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Outro

• E – D – A (×12)
  I – bVII – IV
• E
  I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E	I	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Chorus, Outro
D	bVII	Borrowed from E minor	Verse, Outro
A	IV	In the key	Verse, Outro
B	V	In the key	Chorus

Harmonic highlights

• D (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, E minor.

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.