The Weight by The Band

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 18

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

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 – D – A
  V – IV – I

Verse 1

• A – C♯m – D (×4)
  I – iii – IV
• A
  I

Chorus 1

• A – E/G♯ – D (×3)
  I – V⁶ – IV

Tag 1

• A – D
  I – IV

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Tag 2

Same chords as Tag 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 3

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Tag 3

Same chords as Tag 1.

Verse 4

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Tag 4

Same chords as Tag 1.

Tag 5

Same chords as Tag 1.

Verse 5

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Tag 6

Same chords as Tag 1.

Tag 7

Same chords as Tag 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
E	V	In the key	Intro
D	IV	In the key	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Tag
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Chorus, Tag
C♯m	iii	In the key	Verse
E/G♯	V⁶	In the key	Chorus

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 92% 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.