If Only for One Night by Luther Vandross

Overview

Key: A minor · Chords used: 23 · Sections: 9

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

Where these chords come from: a chord chart of this song written by a musician and shared on the iReal Pro forums, archived in the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). It's one musician's reading of the song, not a transcription checked against the recording. This page shows that chart 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 – G/B – F/A – Em/G
  bIII – bVII⁶ – bVI⁶ – v⁶

Intro 1

• Dm7 – G11 – Cmaj7 – Fmaj7 – Em7 – Dm7 – E7 – Am
  iv7 – bVII11 – bIIImaj7 – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7 – V7 – i

A Section 1

• Dm7 – G11 – F – Em – Am7 – Em/G
  iv7 – bVII11 – bVI – v – i7 – v⁶

Intro 2

Same chords as Intro 1.

A Section 2

• Dm7 – G11 – F – Em – Am7 – Em/G – Dm7 – G11 – Cmaj7 – Fmaj7 – Em7 – Dm7 – E7 – Am – Gmaj7 – C11 – Fmaj7 – E7 – Am7 – Gmaj7 – C11
  iv7 – bVII11 – bVI – v – i7 – v⁶ – iv7 – bVII11 – bIIImaj7 – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7 – V7 – i – bVIImaj7 – bIII11 – bVImaj7 – V7 – i7 – bVIImaj7 – bIII11

B Section

• Fmaj7 – E7sus4 – E7 – A11 – Am7 – Dm7 – G11 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9 – Fmaj7 – E7sus4 – E7 – A11 – Am7 – Dm7
  bVImaj7 – V7sus4 – V7 – I11 – i7 – iv7 – bVII11 – i7 – bvii7 – bIII9 – bVImaj7 – V7sus4 – V7 – I11 – i7 – iv7

C Section

• Dm7 – G11 – F – Em7 – Am7 – G – Dm7 – G11 – Cmaj7 – Fmaj7 – Em7 – Dm7 – E7 – Am – Gmaj7 – C11 – Fmaj7 – E7 – Am7 – Gmaj7 – C11
  iv7 – bVII11 – bVI – v7 – i7 – bVII – iv7 – bVII11 – bIIImaj7 – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7 – V7 – i – bVIImaj7 – bIII11 – bVImaj7 – V7 – i7 – bVIImaj7 – bIII11

D Section

• Fmaj7 – Eaug7 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9 (×2)
  bVImaj7 – V+7 – i7 – bvii7 – bIII9
• Fmaj7 – Ddim7 – Am7 – Dm7
  bVImaj7 – iv°7 – i7 – iv7

A Section 3

• Dm7 – G11 – F – Em7 – Am7 – Em/G – Dm7 – G11 – Cmaj7 – Fmaj7 – Em7 – Dm7
  iv7 – bVII11 – bVI – v7 – i7 – v⁶ – iv7 – bVII11 – bIIImaj7 – bVImaj7 – v7 – iv7
• E7 – Am7 – Gmaj7 – C11 – Fmaj7 (×3)
  V7 – i7 – bVIImaj7 – bIII11 – bVImaj7
• E7 – Am7
  V7 – i7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C11 acts as V/bVI: it resolves to Fmaj7.
• C9 acts as V/bVI: it resolves to Fmaj7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “If Only For One Night” (credited “RUSSELL, BRENDA GORDON”, style Pop Ballad) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata.
• Section names: from the chart's own markings: section names written on the chart (Intro, Verse, Chorus…) are kept, and rehearsal letters are shown as “A Section”, “B Section” and so on (the B of an AABA song is called the Bridge).
• Chord charts are often written in a key that suits a particular singer or band, so this may not be the key of the original recording.
• About the song: Wikipedia.
• Not verified: other charts of this song differ in places from this one, so this page isn't marked verified.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.