I'm Always Chasing Rainbows by Harry Carroll

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 20 · Sections: 4

Form: A Section → B Section → C 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

A Section

• G – C – Cm/E♭ – G/D – G/B
  I – IV – iv⁶ – I⁶₄ – I⁶
• Cm6 – G/D (×2)
  iv6 – I⁶₄
• Am11 – D7
  ii11 – V7

B Section

• E7 – Am – E7/B – Am/C – A7 – Em7 – A7 – D7
  VI7 – ii – VI⁴₃ – ii⁶ – II7 – vi7 – II7 – V7

C Section

• G7 – C – Caug – C6 – C7 – E7 – A7 – A7/E – D7
  I7 – IV – IV+ – IV6 – IV7 – VI7 – II7 – II⁴₃ – V7

D Section

• G – C6 – G/D – Cm/E♭ – G – Dm6 – E7 – Am – A7 – D7 – G – C
  I – IV6 – I⁶₄ – iv⁶ – I – v6 – VI7 – ii – II7 – V7 – I – IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Cm/E♭ (iv⁶) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• Cm6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• E7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Am.
• E7/B acts as V/ii: it resolves to Am/C.
• A7 acts as V/V: it resolves to D7.
• G7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to C.
• A7/E acts as V/V: it resolves to D7.

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.