Hot Fun in the Summertime by Sly & the Family Stone

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → Verse → Chorus → Verse → Chorus

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). 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

• C – Gm9 (×2)
  I – v9

Verse 1

• C – Gm9 – Dm7♭5 – A♭add9 – Gm7 – Fm11 – E♭add9 – E♭ – Dm7 – G7 – Dm7 – G7 (×2)
  I – v9 – iiø7 – bVIadd9 – v7 – iv11 – bIIIadd9 – bIII – ii7 – V7 – ii7 – V7

Chorus 1

• Dm7 – G7 (×8)
  ii7 – V7

Verse 2

• C – Gm9 – Dm7♭5 – A♭add9 – Gm7 – Fm11 – E♭add9 – E♭
  I – v9 – iiø7 – bVIadd9 – v7 – iv11 – bIIIadd9 – bIII
• Dm7 – G7 (×2)
  ii7 – V7

Chorus 2

• Dm7 – G (×6)
  ii7 – V
• Dm7
  ii7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Dm7♭5 (iiø7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• A♭add9 (bVIadd9) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Gm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fm11 (iv11) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E♭add9 (bIIIadd9) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0070, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.