Built from the split-apart stems. The vocal and bass were transcribed to MIDI with librosa pyin, and the chords come from the Moises audio chart. The verse melody lives in the natural minor with no leading tone, the chorus holds one B under five different chords, and the flat-6 chord carries the words over you. Vocal staves follow the transcribed note sequence, second by second.
Weak and Powerless - A Perfect Circle (Thirteenth Step, 2003)
C# minor 路 verse 路 the Aeolian cell, no leading tone
The verse vocal draws from a tight set the transcription confirms: B, E, F-sharp, D-sharp, C-sharp.
That is the C-sharp minor pentatonic plus the second degree.
The heaviest notes are the flat-7 (B) and the flat-3 (E), the two darkest tones in the scale.
There is no B-sharp, no leading tone, so the melody stays modal and heavy instead of reaching for a dominant pull.
The staff below follows the transcribed vocal from 18.4s to 34.5s, note for note.
The intro guitar never rests on the home chord either, settling on A major, the flat-6 (bVI), a borrowed brightness standing in for a tonic the song will not grant.
favorite momentThe intro walking past the home chord and resting on the flat-6 A instead.
C# minor 路 chorus 路 one held B, five chords, five meanings
The chorus vocal centers on B, the flat-7, held and repeated as the chords walk underneath it.
Over F-sharp major (IV) that B is the 4th, a suspended color with no third to say major or minor.
Over C-sharp major (the tonic turned major) the same B becomes the flat-7, tipping the home chord toward a dominant.
Over B major (bVII) the B is the root, the one moment the note and the chord agree.
Over G-sharp minor (v) it flips to the flat-3, the minor color.
Over A major (bVI), the over-you chord, it lands as the 9th, a soft tension on the flat-6.
One pitch that never moves, five chords, five jobs.
The staff follows the transcribed vocal from 43.1s to 66.8s, with the held-B reading marked by the chords on the guitar staff.
favorite momentThe held B reading as a suspended 4th, a flat-7, a bare root, a flat-3, and a 9th as five chords pass under it.
C# minor 路 bridge 路 the voice pedals home as the chords leave home
The bridge inverts the chorus.
Now the voice holds still on the tonic C-sharp and the flat-7 B, the two heaviest notes in the transcription here, and the chords drift out to E major, the flat-3 (bIII) relative major, then back through B (bVII).
The devil-has-my-ear line holds the home tone as the ground slides to the brightest outside chord in the song.
Where the chorus moved the floor under a fixed note, the bridge nails the voice to home and lets the harmony wander.
Nothing resolves cleanly.
The section leans on the flat-side chords and hands the song back to the chorus without confirming the minor tonic.
The staff follows the transcribed vocal from 120.9s to 133.7s.
Per-section evidence, transcription weights (sounding seconds per pitch class):| Section | Chords | Top vocal notes (weight) |
|---|
| Verse 1 | C#m / A / B | B=b7 7.1, E=b3 4.9, F#=4 4.3, C#=1 2.2, D#=2 2.1 |
| Chorus 1 | F# / C# / B / G#m / A | B=b7 6.8, F#=4 5.0, C#=1 2.3 |
| Bridge | B / E / C#m / G#m | C#=1 14.9, B=b7 14.3, D#=2 9.0, F#=4 4.0 |
Grounding: vocal staves follow the pyin transcription of the vocal stem at the stated seconds; the guitar staff and bass roots are grounded in the Moises FROMAUDIO chart.
A basic-pitch guitar transcription failed to load its model in the current environment, so the guitar carries chart grounding alone until that is repaired (queued).
The piano stem measures a mean of -61.5 dB, bleed only, so no Keys system is charted.
Stems truncate near 3:15 of 5:20, so the final chorus and outro are not analyzed.
favorite momentThe voice pinned to the tonic as the chords slide to the flat-3 relative major, home held in the melody exactly as home leaves the harmony.