Lady Sings the Blues by Billie Holiday

Overview

Key: D minor · Chords used: 15 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → Outro

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

• Dm – B♭ – A7
  i – bVI – V7

A Section 1

• Dm – Gm7 – Bm7♭5 – Dm7 – Dmaj7 – Gmaj7 – Dmaj7 – C7 – B7♭9 – Em7 – Aaug7
  i – iv7 – viø7 – i7 – Imaj7 – IVmaj7 – Imaj7 – bVII7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V+7

A Section 2

• Dm – Gm7 – Bm7♭5 – Dm7 – Dmaj7 – Gmaj7 – Dmaj7 – C7 – B7♭9 – Em7 – A7
  i – iv7 – viø7 – i7 – Imaj7 – IVmaj7 – Imaj7 – bVII7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V7

B Section 1

• D7 – E7 – A7
  I7 – II7 – V7

A Section 3

• Dm – Gm7 – Bm7♭5 – Dm7 – Dmaj7 – Gmaj7 – Dmaj7 – C7
  i – iv7 – viø7 – i7 – Imaj7 – IVmaj7 – Imaj7 – bVII7

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

A Section 4

Same chords as A Section 3.

Outro

• B7♭9 – Em7 – A7 – Dm6
  VI7b9 – ii7 – V7 – i6

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Dm	i	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
B♭	bVI	In the key	Intro
A7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section, Outro
Gm7	iv7	In the key	A Section
Bm7♭5	viø7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Dm7	i7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section
Dmaj7	Imaj7	Borrowed from D major	A Section
Gmaj7	IVmaj7	Borrowed from D major	A Section
C7	bVII7	In the key	A Section
B7♭9	VI7b9	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Outro
Em7	ii7	Borrowed from D major	A Section, Outro
Aaug7	V+7	In the key	A Section
D7	I7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
E7	II7	Secondary dominant (V/V)	B Section
Dm6	i6	Outside the key (chromatic)	Outro

Harmonic highlights

• Dmaj7 (Imaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D major.
• Gmaj7 (IVmaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D major.
• Em7 (ii7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D major.
• E7 acts as V/V: it resolves to A7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Lady Sings the Blues” (credited “Herbie Nichols; Billie Holiday (1956)”, style Ballad Even) 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 “Lady Sings The Blues” (credited “Herbie Nichols And Billie Holiday”, style Ballad or 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 68%).
• 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.
• The chart's D.S./D.C./coda jumps have been written out in playing order.
• 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.