Once I Loved by Antônio Carlos Jobim

Overview

Key: D minor · Chords used: 23 · Sections: 3

Form: Intro → A Section → A 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

• Em7♭5 – A7♭9 – Dmaj7 – D7♭9
  iiø7 – V7b9 – Imaj7 – I7b9

A Section 1

• Gm7 – Caug7 – Fmaj7 – F♯dim7 – Gm7 – G♯dim7 – Am7 – Am7/G – Fm7 – B♭aug7 – E♭maj7 – Em7♭5 – A7♭9 – Dmaj7 – D7♭9
  iv7 – bVII+7 – bIIImaj7 – iii°7 – iv7 – #iv°7 – v7 – v⁴₂ – biii7 – bVI+7 – bIImaj7 – iiø7 – V7b9 – Imaj7 – I7b9

A Section 2

• Gm7 – Caug7 – Fmaj7 – F♯dim7 – Gm7 – G♯dim7 – Am7 – Am7/G – Fm7 – B♭aug7 – E♭maj7 – Em7♭5 – A7♭9 – Dmaj7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – F7 – B♭maj7 – Bdim7 – B♭m6 – Am6 – A♭7♯11 – G7 – Gm7 – A7♭9 – Dm6
  iv7 – bVII+7 – bIIImaj7 – iii°7 – iv7 – #iv°7 – v7 – v⁴₂ – biii7 – bVI+7 – bIImaj7 – iiø7 – V7b9 – Imaj7 – IV7 – bVIImaj7 – bIII7 – bVImaj7 – vi°7 – bvi6 – v6 – bV7#11 – IV7 – iv7 – V7b9 – i6

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Em7♭5	iiø7	In the key	Intro, A Section
A7♭9	V7b9	In the key	Intro, A Section
Dmaj7	Imaj7	Borrowed from D major	Intro, A Section
D7♭9	I7b9	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section
Gm7	iv7	In the key	A Section
Caug7	bVII+7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Fmaj7	bIIImaj7	In the key	A Section
F♯dim7	iii°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
G♯dim7	#iv°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Am7	v7	In the key	A Section
Am7/G	v⁴₂	In the key	A Section
Fm7	biii7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
B♭aug7	bVI+7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
E♭maj7	bIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
G7	IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Cmaj7	bVIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
F7	bIII7	Secondary dominant (V/bVI)	A Section
B♭maj7	bVImaj7	In the key	A Section
Bdim7	vi°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
B♭m6	bvi6	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Am6	v6	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
A♭7♯11	bV7#11	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Dm6	i6	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section

Harmonic highlights

• Dmaj7 (Imaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D major.
• F7 acts as V/bVI: it resolves to B♭maj7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Once I Loved” (credited “Jobim Antonio-Carlos”, style Bossa Nova) 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 “Once I Loved” (credited “Jobim Antonio-Carlos”, style Bossa Nova) 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 96%).
• 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.