Bess You Is My Woman by George Gershwin

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 37 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section

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

Intro

• Gm7 – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – E♭7 – B♭/D – A♭7 – D♭maj7 – F7
  vi7 – vi⁴₂ – #ivø7 – IV7 – I⁶ – bVII7 – bIIImaj7 – V7

A Section 1

• B♭maj7 – F7/C – B♭/D – Dm7♭5 – E♭maj7 – E♭m6 – Gm7 – Gm7/F – Em7♭5 – E♭7 – B♭/D – A♭7 – D♭maj7 – F7
  Imaj7 – V⁴₃ – I⁶ – iiiø7 – IVmaj7 – iv6 – vi7 – vi⁴₂ – #ivø7 – IV7 – I⁶ – bVII7 – bIIImaj7 – V7

B Section 1

• B♭maj7 – F7/C – B♭/D – Gm7/D – A7/E – Bm7 – Bm7/A – G7 – Dmaj7 – G♯m7♭5 – C♯7 – F♯6/A♯ – B7 – C♯7 – F♯maj7 – F♯m7 – C7 – F7
  Imaj7 – V⁴₃ – I⁶ – vi⁴₃ – VII⁴₃ – #i7 – #i⁴₂ – VI7 – IIImaj7 – #viø7 – #II7 – #V6 (bass A♯) – #I7 – #II7 – #Vmaj7 – #v7 – II7 – V7

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 2

• B♭maj7 – F7/C – B♭/D – Gm7/D – A7/E – Bm7 – Bm7/A – G7 – Dmaj7 – G♯m7♭5 – C♯7 – F♯6/A♯ – B7 – C♯7 – F♯maj7 – F♯m7 – C7 – F7 – D/A – A7 – D9/F♯ – A7/E – Bm6/D – F♯7/C♯ – Bm7 – B♭7 – Dmaj7
  Imaj7 – V⁴₃ – I⁶ – vi⁴₃ – VII⁴₃ – #i7 – #i⁴₂ – VI7 – IIImaj7 – #viø7 – #II7 – #V6 (bass A♯) – #I7 – #II7 – #Vmaj7 – #v7 – II7 – V7 – III⁶₄ – VII7 – III9 (bass F♯) – VII⁴₃ – #i6 (bass D) – #V⁴₃ – #i7 – I7 – IIImaj7
• Gm7♭5 – D6 (×2)
  viø7 – III6
• D9/F♯ – Gmaj9 – Em7 – Dmaj7 (×2)
  III9 (bass F♯) – VImaj9 – #iv7 – IIImaj7
• A7 – Dm7
  VII7 – iii7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Gm7	vi7	In the key	Intro, A Section
Gm7/F	vi⁴₂	In the key	Intro, A Section
Em7♭5	#ivø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section
E♭7	IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section
B♭/D	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, B Section
A♭7	bVII7	Borrowed from B♭ minor	Intro, A Section
D♭maj7	bIIImaj7	Borrowed from B♭ minor	Intro, A Section
F7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
B♭maj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, B Section
F7/C	V⁴₃	In the key	A Section, B Section
Dm7♭5	iiiø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
E♭maj7	IVmaj7	In the key	A Section
E♭m6	iv6	Borrowed from B♭ minor	A Section
Gm7/D	vi⁴₃	In the key	B Section
A7/E	VII⁴₃	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Bm7	#i7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Bm7/A	#i⁴₂	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
G7	VI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Dmaj7	IIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
G♯m7♭5	#viø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
C♯7	#II7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
F♯6/A♯	#V6 (bass A♯)	Borrowed from B♭ minor	B Section
B7	#I7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
F♯maj7	#Vmaj7	Borrowed from B♭ minor	B Section
F♯m7	#v7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
C7	II7	Secondary dominant (V/V)	B Section
D/A	III⁶₄	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
A7	VII7	Secondary dominant (V/iii)	B Section
D9/F♯	III9 (bass F♯)	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Bm6/D	#i6 (bass D)	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
F♯7/C♯	#V⁴₃	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
B♭7	I7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Gm7♭5	viø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
D6	III6	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Gmaj9	VImaj9	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Em7	#iv7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Dm7	iii7	In the key	B Section

Harmonic highlights

• A♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• D♭maj7 (bIIImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭m6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• F♯6/A♯ (#V6 (bass A♯)) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• F♯maj7 (#Vmaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• C7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F7.
• A7 acts as V/iii: it resolves to Dm7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Bess You Is My Woman” (credited “Gershwin George”, style Ballad) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Artist as credited on the chart.
• 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 “Bess You Is My Woman” (credited “Gershwin George”, style Ballad) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Artist as credited on the chart. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 100%).
• 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.
• 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.