As Time Goes By by Herman Hupfeld

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 18 · Sections: 5

Form: A Section → A Section → Bridge → A Section → Outro

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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

A Section 1

• Fm7 – B♭7 – B♭m7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭maj7 – Fm7 – F♯dim – Gm7 – F7 – F♯dim7 – Gm7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭maj7 – C7 – Fm7 – Gm7 – C7
  ii7 – V7 – v7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – ii7 – #ii° – iii7 – II7 – #ii°7 – iii7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – VI7 – ii7 – iii7 – VI7

A Section 2

• Fm7 – B♭7 – B♭m7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭maj7 – Fm7 – F♯dim – Gm7 – F7 – F♯dim7 – Gm7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭maj7 – B♭m7 – E♭7
  ii7 – V7 – v7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – ii7 – #ii° – iii7 – II7 – #ii°7 – iii7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – v7 – I7

Bridge

• A♭maj7 – C7♭9 – Fm7 – F♯dim7 – Cm – Cmmaj7 – Cm7 – F7 – Fm7 – C7♭9 – Fm7 – B♭7
  IVmaj7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – #ii°7 – vi – vimaj7 – vi7 – II7 – ii7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V7

A Section 3

• Fm7 – B♭7 – B♭m7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭maj7 – Fm7 – F♯dim – Gm7 – F7 – F♯dim7 – Gm7 – C7 – Fm7 – B♭7
  ii7 – V7 – v7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – ii7 – #ii° – iii7 – II7 – #ii°7 – iii7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7

Outro

• E♭6 – C7♭9 – Gm7 – C7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – Bmaj7 – Amaj7 – E♭maj7
  I6 – VI7b9 – iii7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7 – #Vmaj7 – #IVmaj7 – Imaj7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Fm7	ii7	In the key	A Section, Bridge, Outro
B♭7	V7	In the key	A Section, Bridge, Outro
B♭m7	v7	Borrowed from E♭ minor	A Section
E♭maj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, Outro
F♯dim	#ii°	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Gm7	iii7	In the key	A Section, Outro
F7	II7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Bridge
F♯dim7	#ii°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Bridge
C7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	A Section, Outro
E♭7	I7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
A♭maj7	IVmaj7	In the key	Bridge
C7♭9	VI7b9	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	Bridge, Outro
Cm	vi	In the key	Bridge
Cmmaj7	vimaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
Cm7	vi7	In the key	Bridge
E♭6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	Outro
Bmaj7	#Vmaj7	Borrowed from E♭ minor	Outro
Amaj7	#IVmaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Outro

Harmonic highlights

• B♭m7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• Bmaj7 (#Vmaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• C7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Fm7.
• C7♭9 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Fm7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “As Time Goes By 1” (credited “Hupfeld Herman”, style Ballad) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “As Time Goes By” (credited “Hupfeld Herman”, style Ballad) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 65%).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.