Songs · a listening atlas
Different songs.
The same shape.
Follow the relationships between notes, across artists and keys. A verse may share its circle with another song’s chorus, even when their tonal centres are different.
Fields are derived from published chord analyses. Melody, ornaments, voicings and unannotated notes are outside this view. How to read the catalogue ↓
“Beyond diatonic” means the selected field cannot fit inside any one diatonic scale. It does not rank musical complexity.
119 songs · 376 fields · 38 circles
5 notes · 1 song
Circle 155
- Light My Fire
The Doors · 1967
5 notes · 1 song
Circle 217
- Changes
David Bowie · 1971
5 notes · 1 song
Circle 313
- "Paint It, Black"
The Rolling Stones · 1966
5 notes · 1 song
Circle 409
- I've Been Loving You Too Long (to Stop Now)
Otis Redding · 1965
6 notes · 1 song
Circle 221
- What's Going On
Marvin Gaye · 1971
6 notes · 1 song
Circle 317
- I Believe I Can Fly
R. Kelly · 1996
6 notes · 1 song
Circle 591
- Kashmir
Led Zeppelin · 1975
6 notes · 1 song
Circle 615
- Billie Jean
Michael Jackson · 1983
6 notes · 1 song
Circle 621
- Bridge over Troubled Water
Simon and Garfunkel · 1970
7 notes · 4 songs
Circle 251
- Born To Be Wild
Steppenwolf · 1968
- Shout (Parts 1 and 2)
The Isley Brothers · 1959
- Sweet Child O' Mine
Guns N' Roses · 1987
- (Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay
Otis Redding · 1968
7 notes · 10 songs
Circle 253
- Eleanor Rigby
The Beatles · 1966
- Every Breath You Take
The Police · 1983
- In Bloom
Nirvana · 1991
- Nothing Compares 2 U
Sinead O'Connor · 1990
- Purple Haze
The Jimi Hendrix Experience · 1967
- She Loves You
The Beatles · 1963
- Smells Like Teen Spirit
Nirvana · 1991
- Sunshine of Your Love
Cream · 1968
- Yesterday
The Beatles · 1965
- You Can't Always Get What You Want
The Rolling Stones · 1969
7 notes · 2 songs
Circle 319
- Crying
Roy Orbison · 1961
- I Believe I Can Fly
R. Kelly · 1996
The method
One field is a collection, not a key.
Each field is the union of the pitch classes implied by the source’s chord symbols. Octaves, doublings, chord order and duration are ignored. Two fields share a circle only when they are exactly equal after transposition. Inversions of a set are kept separate; no tonic is chosen.
Whole analysis combines every annotated harmony in the song. Passages follow the source’s top-level formal units. Repeated units with identical notes are shown once; a transposed return remains separate. A 12-note whole field can be the result of several smaller fields or changing keys. It does not imply constant chromatic saturation.
This first collection uses David Temperley’s harmonic analyses in the RS 200 rock corpus, created with Trevor de Clercq. These are scholarly reductions made by ear, not exhaustive audio transcriptions. The authors sometimes disagree; this catalogue consistently uses Temperley’s reading. Passage names are editorial expansions of source labels, which remain visible on each song page.
Notes are calculated using the corpus’s chord conventions, including sevenths, suspensions, applied chords and local key changes. Standard chord tones can be implied even where a recording omits them. This is a catalogue of harmonic readings, not a claim that every displayed note is audibly played. The selection is rooted in the Rolling Stone corpus and is not exhaustive.
All 200 song pages
- Prince — 1999
- Sam Cooke — A Change Is Gonna Come
- The Beatles — A Day in the Life
- The Beatles — A Hard Day's Night
- Procol Harum — A Whiter Shade of Pale
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience — All Along the Watchtower
- Nirvana — All Apologies
- The Everly Brothers — All I Have to Do Is Dream
- Sex Pistols — Anarchy in the U.K.
- AC/DC — Back in Black
- The Ronettes — Be My Baby
- Gene Vincent — Be-Bop-A-Lula
- Michael Jackson — Billie Jean
- The Verve — Bitter Sweet Symphony
- New Order — Bizarre Love Triangle
- The Ramones — Blitzkrieg Bop
- Bob Dylan — Blowin' in the Wind
- Carl Perkins — Blue Suede Shoes
- Fats Domino — Blueberry Hill
- Bo Diddley — Bo Diddley
- Queen — Bohemian Rhapsody
- Steppenwolf — Born To Be Wild
- Bruce Springsteen — Born to Run
- Joni Mitchell — Both Sides Now
- Simon and Garfunkel — Bridge over Troubled Water
- Van Morrison — Brown Eyed Girl
- The Mamas & the Papas — California Dreamin'
- The Beach Boys — California Girls
- Dr. Dre and 2Pac — California Love
- The Everly Brothers — Cathy's Clown
- David Bowie — Changes
- Nirvana — Come As You Are
- Patsy Cline — Crazy
- Roy Orbison — Crying
- The Crystals — Da Doo Ron Ron
- Martha and the Vandellas — Dancing in the Street
- Abba — Dancing Queen
- The Beach Boys — Don't Worry Baby
- Aerosmith — Dream On
- The Penguins — Earth Angel
- The Byrds — Eight Miles High
- The Beatles — Eleanor Rigby
- Metallica — Enter Sandman
- The Police — Every Breath You Take
- Sly and the Family Stone — Everyday People
- Radiohead — Fake Plastic Trees
- Sly and the Family Stone — Family Affair
- Tracy Chapman — Fast Car
- Johnny Cash — Folsom Prison Blues
- Buffalo Springfield — For What It's Worth
- Creedence Clearwater Revival — Fortunate Son
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience — Foxey Lady
- Tom Petty — Free Fallin'
- Ray Charles — Georgia on My Miind
- The Rolling Stones — Gimme Shelter
- Fleetwood Mac — Go Your Own Way
- The Beach Boys — God Only Knows
- The Sex Pistols — God Save the Queen
- Little Richard — "Good Golly, Miss Molly"
- The Beach Boys — Good Vibrations
- Jerry Lee Lewis — Great Balls Of Fire
- Jeff Buckley — Hallelujah
- Elvis Presley — Heartbreak Hotel
- The Beatles — Help!
- David Bowie — Heroes
- The Beatles — Hey Jude
- The Rolling Stones — Honky Tonk Women
- Donna Summer — Hot Stuff
- The Eagles — Hotel California
- Elvis Presley — Hound Dog
- The Animals — House of the Rising Sun
- R. Kelly — I Believe I Can Fly
- Bonnie Raitt — I Can't Make You Love Me
- Ray Charles — I Can't Stop Loving You
- The Bobby Fuller Four — I Fought the Law
- James Brown — I Got You (I Feel Good)
- Marvin Gaye — I Heard It Through the Grapevine
- The Flamingos — I Only Have Eyes for You
- The Beatles — I Saw Her Standing There
- U2 — I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
- Johnny Cash — I Walk the Line
- The Ramones — I Wanna Be Sedated
- The Beatles — I Want to Hold Your Hand
- The Jackson 5 — I Want You Back
- Hank Williams — I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
- The Velvet Underground — I'm Waiting for the Man
- John Lennon — Imagine
- Nirvana — In Bloom
- The Beatles — In My Life
- Wilson Pickett — In The Midnight Hour
- The Five Satins — In the Still of the Nite
- James Brown — It's a Man's Man's Man's World
- Otis Redding — I've Been Loving You Too Long (to Stop Now)
- Elvis Presley — Jailhouse Rock
- Chuck Berry — Johnny B. Goode
- The Rolling Stones — Jumpin' Jack Flash
- Led Zeppelin — Kashmir
- Derek and the Dominos — Layla
- The Beatles — Let It Be
- Marvin Gaye — Let's Get It On
- Al Green — Let's Stay Together
- The Doors — Light My Fire
- Bob Dylan — Like a Rolling Stone
- Prince — Little Red Corvette
- Stevie Wonder — Living for the City
- The Clash — London Calling
- Little Richard — Long Tall Sally
- Eminem — Lose Yourself
- Beck — Loser
- R.E.M. — Losing My Religion
- The Kingsmen — Louie Louie
- Al Green — Love and Happiness
- Joy Division — Love Will Tear Us Apart
- Iggy Pop — Lust for Life
- Rod Stewart — Maggie May
- Chuck Berry — Maybellene
- Janis Joplin — Me and Bobby McGee
- The Byrds — Mr. Tambourine Man
- Bob Dylan — Mr. Tambourine Man
- The Who — My Generation
- The Temptations — My Girl
- Elvis Presley — Mystery Train
- Bob Marley & The Wailers — "No Woman, No Cry"
- The Beatles — Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
- Buddy Holly and the Crickets — Not Fade Away
- Sinead O'Connor — Nothing Compares 2 U
- Dr. Dre — Nuthin' But a 'G' Thang
- U2 — One
- The Rolling Stones — "Paint It, Black"
- The Temptations — Papa Was A Rollin' Stone
- James Brown — Papa's Got a Brand New Bag
- Radiohead — Paranoid Android
- The Impressions — People Get Ready
- James Brown — "Please, Please, Please"
- Creedence Clearwater Revival — Proud Mary
- The Jimi Hendrix Experience — Purple Haze
- Prince — Purple Rain
- Buddy Holly and the Crickets — Rave On
- Bob Marley & The Wailers — Redemption Song
- Aretha Franklin — Respect
- Johnny Cash — Ring of Fire
- Ike & Tina Turner — River Deep - Mountain High
- Chuck Berry — Rock & Roll Music
- Bill Haley and His Comets — (We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock
- The B-52's — Rock Lobster
- Neil Young — Rockin' in the Free World
- Chuck Berry — Roll Over Beethoven
- The Beastie Boys — Sabotage
- The Rolling Stones — Satisfaction
- Big Star — September Gurls
- Big Joe Turner — "Shake, Rattle and Roll"
- The Beatles — She Loves You
- The Clash — Should I Stay or Should I Go
- The Isley Brothers — Shout (Parts 1 and 2)
- Nirvana — Smells Like Teen Spirit
- Led Zeppelin — Stairway To Heaven
- Ben E. King — Stand By Me
- The Beatles — Strawberry Fields Forever
- Pavement — Summer Babe
- Eddie Cochran — Summertime Blues
- Cream — Sunshine of Your Love
- Stevie Wonder — Superstition
- Elvis Presley — Suspicious Minds
- Guns N' Roses — Sweet Child O' Mine
- The Rolling Stones — Sympathy for the Devil
- Al Green — Take Me to the River
- Bob Dylan — Tangled Up in Blue
- Eric Clapton — Tears in Heaven
- Buddy Holly — That'll Be the Day
- Elvis Presley — That's All Right
- Simon and Garfunkel — The Boxer
- Otis Redding — (Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay
- Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five — The Message
- Simon and Garfunkel — The Sounds of Silence
- Bob Dylan — The Times They Are A-Changin'
- The Miracles — The Tracks of My Tears
- The Band — The Weight
- Bruce Springsteen — Thunder Road
- Little Richard — Tutti Frutti
- The Drifters — Up On the Roof
- Jimi Hendrix — Voodoo Child (Slight Return)
- Dionne Warwick — Walk On By
- The Kinks — Waterloo Sunset
- Ray Charles — What'd I Say
- Marvin Gaye — What's Going On
- Percy Sledge — When a Man Loves a Woman
- Prince and the Revolution — When Doves Cry
- The Beatles — While My Guitar Gently Weeps
- Bo Diddley — Who Do You Love
- Led Zeppelin — Whole Lotta Love
- Jerry Lee Lewis — Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin On
- The Shirelles — Will You Love Me Tomorrow
- U2 — With or Without You
- The Who — Won't Get Fooled Again
- The Beatles — Yesterday
- The Rolling Stones — You Can't Always Get What You Want
- The Kinks — You Really Got Me
- Sam Cooke — You Send Me
- Elton John — Your Song
- The Righteous Brothers — You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'