If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight) by James P. Johnson

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 23 · Sections: 6

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

• C – Cdim – Dm7 – G7 – C – Cdim
  I – i° – ii7 – V7 – I – i°

A Section

• Dm7 – G7 – C – Dm7 – Cmaj7 – Gm – A7 – A9 – D7 – Am7 – D7 – G7 – A7♭5 – G – Am7 – D7 – G7 – C♯dim – D7 – Am7 – D7
  ii7 – V7 – I – ii7 – Imaj7 – v – VI7 – VI9 – II7 – vi7 – II7 – V7 – VI7♭5 – V – vi7 – II7 – V7 – #i° – II7 – vi7 – II7

B Section 1

• G7 – Gdim – G7 – Dm7 – G7 – G9 – C – E7 – A7 – Aaug7 – A9 – D9 – D9(no5) – G7 – G9 – C – Gm – A9
  V7 – v° – V7 – ii7 – V7 – V9 – I – III7 – VI7 – VI+7 – VI9 – II9 – II9(no5) – V7 – V9 – I – v – VI9

C Section 1

• D7 – G7 – Dm7 – G7 – G9 – C – E7 – A7 – Aaug7 – A9 – F – B7 – C – E7 – A7 – D9 – G7
  II7 – V7 – ii7 – V7 – V9 – I – III7 – VI7 – VI+7 – VI9 – IV – VII7 – I – III7 – VI7 – II9 – V7

B Section 2

• C – E♭dim – G7 – Dm7 – G7 – G9 – C – E7 – A7 – Aaug7 – A9 – D9 – D9(no5) – G7 – G9 – C – Gm – A9
  I – biii° – V7 – ii7 – V7 – V9 – I – III7 – VI7 – VI+7 – VI9 – II9 – II9(no5) – V7 – V9 – I – v – VI9

C Section 2

• D7 – G7 – Dm7 – G7 – G9 – C – E7 – A7 – Aaug7 – A9 – F – B7 – C – E7 – A7 – D9 – G7 – C – Fm – C
  II7 – V7 – ii7 – V7 – V9 – I – III7 – VI7 – VI+7 – VI9 – IV – VII7 – I – III7 – VI7 – II9 – V7 – I – iv – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Gm (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• D7 acts as V/V: it resolves to G7.
• D9 acts as V/V: it resolves to G7.
• D9(no5) acts as V/V: it resolves to G7.

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.
• 1 chord was 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.