Georgia on My Mind by Ray Charles

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 23 · Sections: 7

Form: Intro → Verse → Verse → Bridge → Verse → Bridge → Verse

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. This page shows that transcription 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

• G – Bm/F♯ – Em7 – Cm/E♭ – C♯dim7 – G/D – Am7 – D
  I – iii⁶₄ – vi7 – iv⁶ – #iv°7 – I⁶₄ – ii7 – V

Verse 1

• G – B7 – Em – G/D – C – C♯dim7 – G/D – E7 – A7 – D7 – F7 – E7 – A7 – D7
  I – III7 – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – #iv°7 – I⁶₄ – VI7 – II7 – V7 – bVII7 – VI7 – II7 – V7

Verse 2

• G – B7 – Em – G/D – C – C♯dim7 – G/D – E7 – A7 – D7 – G – F♯dim7/C – G – B7
  I – III7 – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – #iv°7 – I⁶₄ – VI7 – II7 – V7 – I – vii°⁴₃ – I – III7

Bridge 1

• Em – A7 – Em – F♯7 – Bm – B♭7 – A7 – D7
  vi – II7 – vi – VII7 – iii – bIII7 – II7 – V7

Verse 3

Same chords as Verse 2.

Bridge 2

• Em – Am7 – Em – C7 – Em – Am7 – Em – A7 – Em – Am7 – Em – F♯7 – Bm – B♭7 – A7 – D7
  vi – ii7 – vi – IV7 – vi – ii7 – vi – II7 – vi – ii7 – vi – VII7 – iii – bIII7 – II7 – V7

Verse 4

• G – B7 – Em – G/D – C – C♯dim7 – G/D – E7 – A7 – D7 – F7 – E7 – A7 – D7 – G – G/B – C – C♯dim – D – A♭7 – G
  I – III7 – vi – I⁶₄ – IV – #iv°7 – I⁶₄ – VI7 – II7 – V7 – bVII7 – VI7 – II7 – V7 – I – I⁶ – IV – #iv° – V – bII7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
G	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse
Bm/F♯	iii⁶₄	In the key	Intro
Em7	vi7	In the key	Intro
Cm/E♭	iv⁶	Borrowed from G minor	Intro
C♯dim7	#iv°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, Verse
G/D	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse
Am7	ii7	In the key	Intro, Bridge
D	V	In the key	Intro, Verse
B7	III7	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	Verse
Em	vi	In the key	Verse, Bridge
C	IV	In the key	Verse
E7	VI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse
A7	II7	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Verse, Bridge
D7	V7	In the key	Verse, Bridge
F7	bVII7	Borrowed from G minor	Verse
F♯dim7/C	vii°⁴₃	Borrowed from G minor	Verse
F♯7	VII7	Secondary dominant (V/iii)	Bridge
Bm	iii	In the key	Bridge
B♭7	bIII7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
C7	IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
G/B	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	Verse
C♯dim	#iv°	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse
A♭7	bII7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse

Harmonic highlights

• Cm/E♭ (iv⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• F7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• F♯dim7/C (vii°⁴₃) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• B7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Em.
• A7 acts as V/V: it resolves to D7.
• F♯7 acts as V/iii: it resolves to Bm.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by Trevor de Clercq. Expert by-ear harmonic analysis of the original recording, shown on this page.
• Cross-check: the Rock Corpus RS 200 (de Clercq & Temperley, 2011), analysis by David Temperley. Independent by-ear analysis of the same recording. The two analysts agree on the chord (root and major/minor) for 93% of the song.
• Verified: two independent expert transcriptions agree on this song's harmony.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.