Row, Row, Row by James V. Monaco

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 7 · Sections: 12

Form: A Section → B Section → C Section → D Section → E Section → F Section → G Section → H Section → A Section → F Section → G Section → H Section

Where these chords come from: a lead sheet of this public-domain song, contributed by a musician to the Wikifonia archive and preserved in the OpenEWLD lead-sheet collection (Simonetta et al., 2018). It describes the song as written, not any particular recording. This page shows that lead sheet 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

A Section 1

• B♭ – F7
  I – V7

B Section

• B♭ – C7 – F7
  I – II7 – V7

C Section

• B♭ – G7 – Cm
  I – VI7 – ii

D Section

• C7 – F – C7 – F7
  II7 – V – II7 – V7

E Section

• B♭ – E♭ – G7 – Cm
  I – IV – VI7 – ii

F Section 1

• C7 – F7 – B♭
  II7 – V7 – I

G Section 1

• F7 – B♭ (×2)
  V7 – I
• Cm – G7 – Cm
  ii – VI7 – ii

H Section 1

• B♭ – C7 – F7 – B♭
  I – II7 – V7 – I

A Section 2

• B♭ – E♭ – G7 – Cm
  I – IV – VI7 – ii

F Section 2

Same chords as F Section 1.

G Section 2

Same chords as G Section 1.

H Section 2

• B♭ – C7 – F7
  I – II7 – V7

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F7.
• G7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Cm.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the OpenEWLD lead-sheet collection (Simonetta et al., 2018). Community-contributed lead sheet (chord symbols over the melody) from the Wikifonia archive, MIT licence. Title and songwriter credit as written on the sheet.
• Section names: detected by code from repeated 8-, 12- and 16-bar phrases (letters such as A and B mark different phrases; a phrase that comes back keeps its letter). Lead sheets rarely print section names.
• Not verified: only one lead sheet of this song is available, so it hasn't been cross-checked.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.