I Got Rhythm by George Gershwin

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 36 · Sections: 8

Form: Lead-in → A Section → B Section → C Section → D Section → D Section → E 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

Lead-in

• Gm – D7 – Gm
  vi – III7 – vi

A Section

• Cm – Gm6 – E♭7 – Gm – E♭ – Gm6 – Em6
  ii – vi6 – IV7 – vi – IV – vi6 – #iv6
• Gm – Dm7 (×2)
  vi – iii7
• Gm
  vi

B Section

• Cm – Gm6 – E♭7 – Gm – Gm7 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭ – Fm7 – B♭ – D – D7
  ii – vi6 – IV7 – vi – vi7 – ii7 – V7 – I – v7 – I – III – III7

C Section

• Faug – D7 – Cm7 – E♭7 – D – D7 – Faug – D7 – Cm7 – F7 – Edim – G♭7
  V+ – III7 – ii7 – IV7 – III – III7 – V+ – III7 – ii7 – V7 – #iv° – bVI7

D Section 1

• F7 – B♭m6 – Ddim – F7 – B♭ – B♭6 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭6 – Edim – Cm7 – F7 – B♭ – B♭6 – Cm7 – F7 – Em6 – B♭ – F7
  V7 – i6 – iii° – V7 – I – I6 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – #iv° – ii7 – V7 – I – I6 – ii7 – V7 – #iv6 – I – V7

D Section 2

• B♭ – C♯dim – F7 – B♭ – B♭6 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭6 – Edim – Cm7 – F7 – B♭ – B♭6 – Cm7 – F7 – Em6 – B♭ – F7
  I – #ii° – V7 – I – I6 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – #iv° – ii7 – V7 – I – I6 – ii7 – V7 – #iv6 – I – V7

E Section

• B♭ – D7 – Am7 – Fm6 – D7 – G – Daug – Dm – G7 – C7 – Gm7 – E♭m6 – C9 – C7♭5
  I – III7 – vii7 – v6 – III7 – VI – III+ – iii – VI7 – II7 – vi7 – iv6 – II9 – II7♭5

D Section 3

• F7 – C7 – F7 – B♭ – B♭6 – Cm7 – F7 – B♭6 – Edim – Cm7 – F7 – B♭ – B♭6 – Cm7 – F7 – E♭m – B♭ – Fm – G7 – C7 – F7 – B♭ – A♭ – G♭ – D♭
  V7 – II7 – V7 – I – I6 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – #iv° – ii7 – V7 – I – I6 – ii7 – V7 – iv – I – v – VI7 – II7 – V7 – I – bVII – bVI – bIII

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Fm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• Faug (V+) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭m6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• Fm (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• A♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• G♭ (bVI) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• D♭ (bIII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• D7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Gm.
• C7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F7.

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.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.