Poetry Man by Phoebe Snow

Overview

Key: D major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 9

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → B Section → C Section → A Section ×2 → B 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

• D
  I
• Dmaj7 – D7 – D6 – D7 – A7sus4 – A7 – Am7 – Em/A (×2)
  Imaj7 – I7 – I6 – I7 – V7sus4 – V7 – v7 – ii (bass A)
• Dmaj7
  Imaj7

A Section 1

• Am7 – A7sus4
  v7 – V7sus4
• Dmaj7 – D7 – D6 – D7 (×2)
  Imaj7 – I7 – I6 – I7

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 1

• C/D – Gmaj9 – Dmaj7 – D7 – A7sus4 – Dmaj7 – D7 – D6 – D7
  bVII (bass D) – IVmaj9 – Imaj7 – I7 – V7sus4 – Imaj7 – I7 – I6 – I7

C Section

• A7sus4 – A7 – Am7 – Em/A – Dmaj7 – D7 – D6 – D7 – A7sus4 – A7 – Am7 – Em/A – Dmaj7
  V7sus4 – V7 – v7 – ii (bass A) – Imaj7 – I7 – I6 – I7 – V7sus4 – V7 – v7 – ii (bass A) – Imaj7

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

A Section 4

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

Outro

• C/D – Gmaj9 – Dmaj7 – D7 – A7sus4 – Dmaj7 – D7 – D6
  bVII (bass D) – IVmaj9 – Imaj7 – I7 – V7sus4 – Imaj7 – I7 – I6

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
D	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro
Dmaj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, B Section, C Section, Outro
D7	I7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section, B Section, C Section, Outro
D6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, B Section, C Section, Outro
A7sus4	V7sus4	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section, C Section, Outro
A7	V7	In the key	Intro, C Section
Am7	v7	Borrowed from D minor	Intro, A Section, C Section
Em/A	ii (bass A)	In the key	Intro, C Section
C/D	bVII (bass D)	Borrowed from D minor	B Section, Outro
Gmaj9	IVmaj9	In the key	B Section, Outro

Harmonic highlights

• Am7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.
• C/D (bVII (bass D)) is borrowed from the parallel key, D minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Poetry Man” (credited “Snow Phoebe”, style Pop) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.
• 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 “Poetry Man” (credited “Snow Phoebe”, style Pop Folk) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 69%).
• 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.