Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks

Overview

Key: E major · Chords used: 9 · Sections: 7

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

• B – E – B – A
  V – I – V – IV

Verse 1

• E – B/D♯ – A/C♯ (×2)
  I – V⁶ – IV⁶
• F♯m – F♯m7/E – B – E – B/D♯ – A/C♯
  ii – ii⁴₂ – V – I – V⁶ – IV⁶

Chorus 1

• F♯ – B – E – F♯ – B7
  II – V – I – II – V7

Verse 2

Same chords as Verse 1.

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 1.

Outro

• E – B/D♯ – A/C♯ – B
  I – V⁶ – IV⁶ – V

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F♯ acts as V/V: it resolves to B.

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 83% of the song.
• Not verified: the two RS 200 analysts differ in places (see their agreement above).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.