Killing Me Softly with His Song by Roberta Flack

Overview

Key: A♭ major · Chords used: 14 · Sections: 10

Form: Intro → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section ×4

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

• Fm – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭maj7 – Fm – B♭/D – E♭7 – D♭ – A♭ – D♭ – G♭maj7 – F
  vi – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – vi – II⁶ – V7 – IV – I – IV – bVIImaj7 – VI
• E♭9sus4 – E♭9 (×4)
  V9sus4 – V9

A Section 1

• B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭ – D♭maj7 – B♭m7 – E♭7 – Fm – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭ – C7
  ii7 – V7 – I – IVmaj7 – ii7 – V7 – vi – ii7 – V7 – I – III7

B Section 1

• Fm – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭ – Fm – B♭/D – E♭ – D♭ – A♭ – D♭ – G♭maj7 – F
  vi – ii7 – V7 – I – vi – II⁶ – V – IV – I – IV – bVIImaj7 – VI

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 3

Same chords as B Section 1.

B Section 4

Same chords as B Section 1.

B Section 5

Same chords as B Section 1.

B Section 6

Same chords as B Section 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Fm	vi	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
B♭m7	ii7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
E♭7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
A♭maj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	Intro
B♭/D	II⁶	Secondary dominant (V/V)	Intro, B Section
D♭	IV	In the key	Intro, B Section
A♭	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, B Section
G♭maj7	bVIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, B Section
F	VI	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, B Section
E♭9sus4	V9sus4	In the key	Intro
E♭9	V9	In the key	Intro
D♭maj7	IVmaj7	In the key	A Section
C7	III7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
E♭	V	In the key	B Section

Harmonic highlights

• B♭/D acts as V/V: it resolves to E♭7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (credited “Roberta Flack (Fox, Gimbel)”, style Pop) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.
• 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 “Killing Me Softly With His Song” (credited “Fox-Gimbel (Roberta Flack)”, style Pop) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 91%).
• 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.
• 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.