Embraceable You by George Gershwin

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 25 · Sections: 8

Form: A Section → B Section → C Section → D Section → A Section → B Section → C Section → D Section

Where these chords come from: a lead sheet of this public-domain song, contributed by a musician to the Wikifonia archive and preserved in the OpenEWLD lead-sheet collection (Simonetta et al., 2018). It describes the song as written, not any particular recording. This page shows that lead sheet 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

• G – C♯dim – D7 – C – Ddim – D7 – Am – F7 – D7 – G – Dmaj7(no3) – G
  I – #iv° – V7 – IV – v° – V7 – ii – bVII7 – V7 – I – Vmaj7(no3) – I

B Section 1

• Em – Em7 – Em6 – F♯7 – Bm – B♭aug – Bm7 – E7 – D – E♭dim – A7
  vi – vi7 – vi6 – VII7 – iii – bIII+ – iii7 – VI7 – V – bvi° – II7
• D7 – G (×2)
  V7 – I
• D7
  V7

C Section 1

• G – C♯dim – D7 – C – Ddim – D7 – A – E7 – D7 – G7 – Dmaj7(no3) – C♯dim – G7
  I – #iv° – V7 – IV – v° – V7 – II – VI7 – V7 – I7 – Vmaj7(no3) – #iv° – I7

D Section 1

• C – Am/F♯ – D7 – Em – E♭aug – G – Em6 – G – Cm/A – D7 – G – E♭ – A – D7
  IV – ii (bass F♯) – V7 – vi – bVI+ – I – vi6 – I – iv (bass A) – V7 – I – bVI – II – V7

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

C Section 2

Same chords as C Section 1.

D Section 2

• C – Am/F♯ – D7 – Em – E♭aug – G – Em6 – G – Cm/A – D7 – A – D7
  IV – ii (bass F♯) – V7 – vi – bVI+ – I – vi6 – I – iv (bass A) – V7 – II – V7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• F7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• Cm/A (iv (bass A)) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• E♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• F♯7 acts as V/iii: it resolves to Bm.
• A7 acts as V/V: it resolves to D7.
• A acts as V/V: it resolves to D7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the OpenEWLD lead-sheet collection (Simonetta et al., 2018). Community-contributed lead sheet (chord symbols over the melody) from the Wikifonia archive, MIT licence. Title and songwriter credit as written on the sheet.
• Section names: detected by code from repeated 8-, 12- and 16-bar phrases (letters such as A and B mark different phrases; a phrase that comes back keeps its letter). Lead sheets rarely print section names.
• Not verified: only one lead sheet of this song is available, so it hasn't been cross-checked.
• 2 chords were simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.