It Had to Be You by Isham Jones

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 26 · Sections: 10

Form: A Section → B Section → C Section → D Section → E Section → F Section → G Section → H Section → I Section → J 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

• Gmaj7 – G7 – C6 – Cm6 – Bm7 – Em – A7 – Am7 – D7 – G – Dmaj7(no3) – D7 – Gdim
  Imaj7 – I7 – IV6 – iv6 – iii7 – vi – II7 – ii7 – V7 – I – Vmaj7(no3) – V7 – i°

B Section

• G – Gmaj7 – G7 – C6 – Cm6 – G – Em – A7 – Am7 – D7 – Daug
  I – Imaj7 – I7 – IV6 – iv6 – I – vi – II7 – ii7 – V7 – V+

C Section

• Gmaj7 – D7 – Gmaj7 – F9 – E7 – Bm – E7
  Imaj7 – V7 – Imaj7 – bVII9 – VI7 – iii – VI7
• A9 – Em7 (×3)
  II9 – vi7
• A9
  II9

D Section

• D7 – D♯dim – Em7 – B♭7 – A7 – Em7 – A7 – Am7 – D7 – D – Daug
  V7 – #v° – vi7 – bIII7 – II7 – vi7 – II7 – ii7 – V7 – V – V+

E Section

• G – Gmaj7 – Daug – F9 – E7 – Bm
  I – Imaj7 – V+ – bVII9 – VI7 – iii
• A9 – Em7 (×3)
  II9 – vi7
• C♯dim
  #iv°

F Section

• Am – C – Adim7 – D7 – G – D♯dim – Em – C♯dim – D7 – A♭dim7 – D7 – Bm – G – B♭7 – D7 – Daug
  ii – IV – ii°7 – V7 – I – #v° – vi – #iv° – V7 – bii°7 – V7 – iii – I – bIII7 – V7 – V+

G Section

• Gmaj7 – F9 – E7 – Bm – E7
  Imaj7 – bVII9 – VI7 – iii – VI7
• A9 – Em7 (×3)
  II9 – vi7
• A9 – D7
  II9 – V7

H Section

• D♯dim – Em7 – B♭7 – A7 – Em7 – A7 – Am7 – D7 – D – Daug – G – Gmaj7
  #v° – vi7 – bIII7 – II7 – vi7 – II7 – ii7 – V7 – V – V+ – I – Imaj7

I Section

• Daug – F9 – E7 – Bm
  V+ – bVII9 – VI7 – iii
• A9 – Em7 (×3)
  II9 – vi7
• C♯dim – Am – C
  #iv° – ii – IV

J Section

• Adim7 – D7 – G – D♯dim – Em – C♯dim – D7 – A♭dim7 – D7 – Bm – G – D7 – Gmaj7
  ii°7 – V7 – I – #v° – vi – #iv° – V7 – bii°7 – V7 – iii – I – V7 – Imaj7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Cm6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• Daug (V+) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• F9 (bVII9) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• G7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to C6.
• A9 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.
• 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.