It's Only a Paper Moon by Harold Arlen

Overview

Key: G major · Chords used: 13 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → Bridge → 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

Intro

• Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – Am7♭5 – D7 – G6 – Am7 – D7
  v7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iiø7 – V7 – I6 – ii7 – V7

A Section 1

• Gmaj7 – E7
  Imaj7 – VI7
• Am7 – D7 (×2)
  ii7 – V7
• Gmaj7 – Am7 – D7 – Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – Am7♭5 – D7 – G6 – Am7 – D7
  Imaj7 – ii7 – V7 – v7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iiø7 – V7 – I6 – ii7 – V7

A Section 2

• Gmaj7 – E7
  Imaj7 – VI7
• Am7 – D7 (×2)
  ii7 – V7
• Gmaj7 – Am7 – D7 – Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – Am7♭5 – D7 – G6 – G7
  Imaj7 – ii7 – V7 – v7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – iiø7 – V7 – I6 – I7

Bridge

• Cmaj7 – C♯dim7 – Gmaj7/D – E7 – Am7 – D7 – G6 – G7 – Cmaj7 – C♯dim7 – Gmaj7/D – Bm7♭5 – E7♭9 – Am7 – D7
  IVmaj7 – #iv°7 – Imaj⁴₃ – VI7 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – I7 – IVmaj7 – #iv°7 – Imaj⁴₃ – iiiø7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V7

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Dm7	v7	Borrowed from G minor	Intro, A Section
G7	I7	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	Intro, A Section, Bridge
Cmaj7	IVmaj7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge
Am7♭5	iiø7	Borrowed from G minor	Intro, A Section
D7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge
G6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, Bridge
Am7	ii7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge
Gmaj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section
E7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	A Section, Bridge
C♯dim7	#iv°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
Gmaj7/D	Imaj⁴₃	Home chord (tonic)	Bridge
Bm7♭5	iiiø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
E7♭9	VI7b9	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• Dm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• Am7♭5 (iiø7) is borrowed from the parallel key, G minor.
• G7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to Cmaj7.
• E7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Am7.
• E7♭9 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Am7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “It's Only a Paper Moon” (credited “Arlen Harold”, style Medium Swing) 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).
• Cross-check: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “It's Only A Paper Moon - Flinner” (credited “Harold Arlen, E.Y. Harburg, Billy Rose”, style Medium Swing) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer/songwriter confirmed from Wikidata. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 66%).
• 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.
• Verified: two community charts of this song, posted in different forum threads, agree on its harmony. They're still charts, not transcriptions checked against the recording.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.