Don't Know Why I Didn't Come by Norah Jones

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 8

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

• B♭ – B♭7 – E♭maj9 – D9 – Gm7 – C7 – F7sus4 – B♭
  I – I7 – IVmaj9 – III9 – vi7 – II7 – V7sus4 – I

A Section 1

• B♭maj7 – B♭7 – E♭maj9 – D9 – Gm7 – C7 – F7sus4 – B♭ (×2)
  Imaj7 – I7 – IVmaj9 – III9 – vi7 – II7 – V7sus4 – I
• Gm7 – C7 – F7sus4 – B♭
  vi7 – II7 – V7sus4 – I

A Section 2

• B♭maj7 – B♭7 – E♭maj9 – D9 – Gm7 – C7 – F7sus4 – B♭ (×2)
  Imaj7 – I7 – IVmaj9 – III9 – vi7 – II7 – V7sus4 – I

B Section 1

• Gm7 – C7 – F7 (×2)
  vi7 – II7 – V7
• F7/E♭ – B♭/D – F7/C
  V⁴₂ – I⁶ – V⁴₃

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 2.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

A Section 4

Same chords as A Section 2.

A Section 5

• B♭maj7 – B♭7 – E♭maj9 – D9 – Gm7 – C7 – F7sus4 – B♭ (×2)
  Imaj7 – I7 – IVmaj9 – III9 – vi7 – II7 – V7sus4 – I
• Gm7 – C7 – F7sus4 – B♭ – B♭7/F – Gm7 – C7 – F7sus4 – B♭
  vi7 – II7 – V7sus4 – I – I⁴₃ – vi7 – II7 – V7sus4 – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
B♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
B♭7	I7	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	Intro, A Section
E♭maj9	IVmaj9	In the key	Intro, A Section
D9	III9	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	Intro, A Section
Gm7	vi7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
C7	II7	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Intro, A Section, B Section
F7sus4	V7sus4	In the key	Intro, A Section
B♭maj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section
F7	V7	In the key	B Section
F7/E♭	V⁴₂	In the key	B Section
B♭/D	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
F7/C	V⁴₃	In the key	B Section
B♭7/F	I⁴₃	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section

Harmonic highlights

• B♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to E♭maj9.
• D9 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Gm7.
• C7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F7sus4.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Don't Know Why I Didn't Come” (credited “Jones Norah”, 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 “Don't Know Why I Didn't Come” (credited “Norah Jones(Jessie Harris)”, 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.