Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like A) by Aretha Franklin

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 22 · Sections: 12

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → B Section → A Section → B Section → C Section → C Section → B Section → Vamp → B Section → Vamp

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

• F/C – Gm7 – F/A
  IV⁶₄ – v7 – IV⁶

A Section 1

• C – G/B – B♭ – F – C/E – Dm
  I – V⁶ – bVII – IV – I⁶ – ii

A Section 2

• C – G/B – B♭ – F – C/E – Dm
  I – V⁶ – bVII – IV – I⁶ – ii
• Dm7 – Em7 (×3)
  ii7 – iii7
• Dm7 – G9sus4
  ii7 – V9sus4

B Section 1

• C – F (×2)
  I – IV
• C – C/A – C/G – C/E – C/D – C/C – Dm7
  I – I (bass A) – I⁶₄ – I⁶ – I (bass D) – I – ii7

A Section 3

• C – G/B – B♭ – F – C/E – Dm – Dm7 – Em7 – Dm7 – G9sus4
  I – V⁶ – bVII – IV – I⁶ – ii – ii7 – iii7 – ii7 – V9sus4

B Section 2

• C – F (×2)
  I – IV
• C – C/A – C/G – C/E – C/D – C/C – Dm7 – Dm7/G – Em7/G – Dm7/G
  I – I (bass A) – I⁶₄ – I⁶ – I (bass D) – I – ii7 – ii7 (bass G) – iii⁶₅ – ii7 (bass G)

C Section 1

• C6 – Gm7
  I6 – v7

C Section 2

• C6 – Gm7 – Fmaj9 – Cm7 – Fmaj9 – Fmaj9/E – Dm7 – G9sus4
  I6 – v7 – IVmaj9 – i7 – IVmaj9 – IVmaj9 (bass E) – ii7 – V9sus4

B Section 3

• C – F (×2)
  I – IV
• C – C/A – C/G – C/E – C/D – C/C
  I – I (bass A) – I⁶₄ – I⁶ – I (bass D) – I

Vamp 1

• Dm7 – G9sus4
  ii7 – V9sus4

B Section 4

Same chords as B Section 3.

Vamp 2

Same chords as Vamp 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
F/C	IV⁶₄	In the key	Intro
Gm7	v7	Borrowed from C minor	Intro, C Section
F/A	IV⁶	In the key	Intro
C	I	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, B Section
G/B	V⁶	In the key	A Section
B♭	bVII	Borrowed from C minor	A Section
F	IV	In the key	A Section, B Section
C/E	I⁶	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, B Section
Dm	ii	In the key	A Section
Dm7	ii7	In the key	A Section, B Section, C Section, Vamp
Em7	iii7	In the key	A Section
G9sus4	V9sus4	In the key	A Section, C Section, Vamp
C/A	I (bass A)	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
C/G	I⁶₄	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
C/D	I (bass D)	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
C/C	I	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
Dm7/G	ii7 (bass G)	In the key	B Section
Em7/G	iii⁶₅	In the key	B Section
C6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	C Section
Fmaj9	IVmaj9	In the key	C Section
Cm7	i7	Borrowed from C minor	C Section
Fmaj9/E	IVmaj9 (bass E)	In the key	C Section

Harmonic highlights

• Gm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Cm7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel Like A)” (credited “Goffin-King-Wexler (Aretha Franklin)”, style Soul) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Artist as credited on the chart.
• 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 “Natural Woman” (credited “Franklin Aretha”, style Pop) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Artist as credited on the chart. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 74%).
• 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.
• 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.