New York State of Mind by Billy Joel

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 30 · Sections: 9

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

• C – E7♯9 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9 – Fmaj7 – A7 – Dm7 – B♭7 – C – G/B – Am7 – Am7/G – Fmaj7 – Fmaj7/E – D9 – Fmaj9 – G9sus4 – Am7 – D9 – Am7 – F/G
  I – III7#9 – vi7 – v7 – I9 – IVmaj7 – VI7 – ii7 – bVII7 – I – V⁶ – vi7 – vi⁴₂ – IVmaj7 – IVmaj⁴₂ – II9 – IVmaj9 – V9sus4 – vi7 – II9 – vi7 – IV (bass G)

A Section 1

• C – E7♯9 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9 – Fmaj7 – A7 – Dm7 – B♭7 – C – G/B – Am7 – Am7/G – Fmaj7 – Fmaj7/E – D9 – Fmaj9 – G9sus4 – Am7 – D9 – Am7 – F/G
  I – III7#9 – vi7 – v7 – I9 – IVmaj7 – VI7 – ii7 – bVII7 – I – V⁶ – vi7 – vi⁴₂ – IVmaj7 – IVmaj⁴₂ – II9 – IVmaj9 – V9sus4 – vi7 – II9 – vi7 – IV (bass G)

A Section 2

• C – E7♯9 – Am7 – Gm7 – C9 – Fmaj7 – A7 – Dm7 – B♭7 – C – G/B – Am7 – Am7/G – Fmaj7 – Fmaj7/E – D9 – Fmaj7 – G9 – Am7 – D9 – Am7 – F/G – E7
  I – III7#9 – vi7 – v7 – I9 – IVmaj7 – VI7 – ii7 – bVII7 – I – V⁶ – vi7 – vi⁴₂ – IVmaj7 – IVmaj⁴₂ – II9 – IVmaj7 – V9 – vi7 – II9 – vi7 – IV (bass G) – III7

B Section 1

• Am7 – D9 – Gmaj7 – Gm7 – C9 – Fmaj7 – Bm7 – E9sus4 – Amaj7 – Am7 – D9sus4 – Gmaj7 – Dm7 – Gsus4 – G7
  vi7 – II9 – Vmaj7 – v7 – I9 – IVmaj7 – vii7 – III9sus4 – VImaj7 – vi7 – II9sus4 – Vmaj7 – ii7 – Vsus4 – V7

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

A Section 4

Same chords as A Section 2.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

A Section 5

Same chords as A Section 1.

C Section

• C – G/B – Am7 – Am7/G – Fmaj7 – Fmaj7/E – D9 – Fmaj9 – G9sus4 – C – E7♯9 – Am7 – B♭7 – E♭maj7 – A♭maj7 – Dm11 – D♭maj7♯11 – Cmaj7♯11
  I – V⁶ – vi7 – vi⁴₂ – IVmaj7 – IVmaj⁴₂ – II9 – IVmaj9 – V9sus4 – I – III7#9 – vi7 – bVII7 – bIIImaj7 – bVImaj7 – ii11 – bIImaj7#11 – Imaj7#11

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
C	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, C Section
E7♯9	III7#9	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	Intro, A Section, C Section
Am7	vi7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section, C Section
Gm7	v7	Borrowed from C minor	Intro, A Section, B Section
C9	I9	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	Intro, A Section, B Section
Fmaj7	IVmaj7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section, C Section
A7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	Intro, A Section
Dm7	ii7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section
B♭7	bVII7	Borrowed from C minor	Intro, A Section, C Section
G/B	V⁶	In the key	Intro, A Section, C Section
Am7/G	vi⁴₂	In the key	Intro, A Section, C Section
Fmaj7/E	IVmaj⁴₂	In the key	Intro, A Section, C Section
D9	II9	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section, B Section, C Section
Fmaj9	IVmaj9	In the key	Intro, A Section, C Section
G9sus4	V9sus4	In the key	Intro, A Section, C Section
F/G	IV (bass G)	In the key	Intro, A Section
G9	V9	In the key	A Section
E7	III7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Gmaj7	Vmaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Bm7	vii7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
E9sus4	III9sus4	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Amaj7	VImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
D9sus4	II9sus4	In the key	B Section
Gsus4	Vsus4	In the key	B Section
G7	V7	In the key	B Section
E♭maj7	bIIImaj7	Borrowed from C minor	C Section
A♭maj7	bVImaj7	Borrowed from C minor	C Section
Dm11	ii11	In the key	C Section
D♭maj7♯11	bIImaj7#11	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section
Cmaj7♯11	Imaj7#11	Outside the key (chromatic)	C Section

Harmonic highlights

• Gm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E♭maj7 (bIIImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• A♭maj7 (bVImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E7♯9 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Am7.
• C9 acts as V/IV: it resolves to Fmaj7.
• A7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Dm7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “New York State Of Mind 1” (credited “Joel Billy”, style Pop) 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 “New York State Of Mind” (credited “Joel Billy”, style Pop) 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 93%).
• 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.