Laughter in the Rain by Neil Sedaka

Overview

Key: F♭ major · Chords used: 29 · Sections: 14

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). This page shows that transcription 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

Part 1 (0:06)

• A♭/E♭ – D♭add9/E♭ (×4)
  III⁶₄ – VIadd9 (bass E♭)

Part 2 (0:26)

• A♭ – D♭add9/E♭ – A♭maj7 – D♭add9/E♭ – E♭7 – A♭
  III – VIadd9 (bass E♭) – IIImaj7 – VIadd9 (bass E♭) – VII7 – III

Part 3 (0:46)

• Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭ – D♭m – G♭maj7 – C♭maj7 – A♭m7 – D♭m7 – G♭7 – C♭ – A♭m7
  #i7 – #IV7 – VII – vi – IImaj7 – Vmaj7 – iii7 – vi7 – II7 – V – iii7

Part 4 (1:06)

• D♭m7 – F♭add9/G♭ – C♭maj7 – A♭m7 – F♭maj7 – E♭7 – A♭maj7 – D♭add9/E♭
  vi7 – Iadd9 (bass G♭) – Vmaj7 – iii7 – Imaj7 – VII7 – IIImaj7 – VIadd9 (bass E♭)

Part 5 (1:26)

• A♭maj7 – D♭add9/E♭ – A♭maj7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭7
  IIImaj7 – VIadd9 (bass E♭) – IIImaj7 – #i7 – #IV7 – VII7

Part 6 (1:47)

• D♭m7 – G♭7 – C♭maj7 – A♭m7 (×3)
  vi7 – II7 – Vmaj7 – iii7
• F♭maj7
  Imaj7

Part 7 (2:07)

• E♭7 – Amaj7/G♯ – F♯madd9 – Dmaj7 – Dadd9/E – Amaj7 – F♯madd9
  VII7 – #IIImaj⁴₂ – iiadd9 – #VImaj7 – #VIadd9 (bass E) – #IIImaj7 – iiadd9

Part 8 (2:27)

• Dmaj7
  #VImaj7
• A♭/E♭ – D♭add9/E♭ (×3)
  III⁶₄ – VIadd9 (bass E♭)
• A♭
  III

Part 9 (2:47)

• D♭add9/E♭ – A♭ (×2)
  VIadd9 (bass E♭) – III
• Fm7
  #i7

Part 10 (3:07)

• B♭7 – E♭7
  #IV7 – VII7
• D♭m7 – G♭7 – C♭maj7 – A♭m7 (×2)
  vi7 – II7 – Vmaj7 – iii7
• D♭m7 – G♭7
  vi7 – II7

Part 11 (3:28)

• C♭maj7 – A♭m7 – F♭maj7 – E♭7
  Vmaj7 – iii7 – Imaj7 – VII7
• Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – Am7 (×2)
  #vi7 – #II7 – #Vmaj7 – #iii7

Part 12 (3:48)

• Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – Am7 – F – E7
  #vi7 – #II7 – #Vmaj7 – #iii7 – #I – #VII7
• Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – Am7 (×2)
  #vi7 – #II7 – #Vmaj7 – #iii7

Part 13 (4:08)

Same chords as Part 12 (3:48).

Part 14 (4:28)

• Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – Am7 – Fmaj7 – E7
  #vi7 – #II7 – #Vmaj7 – #iii7 – #Imaj7 – #VII7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Dadd9/E (#VIadd9 (bass E)) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♭ minor.
• Cmaj7 (#Vmaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♭ minor.
• Am7 (#iii7) is borrowed from the parallel key, F♭ minor.
• G♭7 acts as V/V: it resolves to C♭.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the Uspop2002 chord annotations (Music and Audio Research Lab, New York University). Chord annotation of the original recording (Neil Sedaka - Tuneweaver), time-stamped by researchers; CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo.
• Section names: this annotation doesn't name verses or choruses, so they aren't guessed. Instead, code used the chord timings to find the bars and cut the song into 8-bar parts. Each part is labelled with the time it starts in the annotated recording (Neil Sedaka - Tuneweaver), and a part with exactly the same chords as an earlier one says so.
• The key was estimated by code from the chords; this annotation doesn't state it.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.