Smoke Gets In Your Eyes by Jerome Kern

Overview

Key: E♭ major · Chords used: 18 · Sections: 5

Form: Intro → A Section → A Section → Bridge → 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

• Gm7 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭6 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭7
  iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – vi7 – ii7 – V7

A Section 1

• E♭maj7 – G♭dim7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭maj7 – Adim7 – Gm7 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – Gm7 – C7 – Fm7 – B♭7
  Imaj7 – biii°7 – ii7 – V7 – v7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – #iv°7 – iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – V7 – iii7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7

A Section 2

• E♭maj7 – G♭dim7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭maj7 – Adim7 – Gm7 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭6 – D♭m7 – G♭7
  Imaj7 – biii°7 – ii7 – V7 – v7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – #iv°7 – iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – bvii7 – bIII7

Bridge

• Bmaj7 – E7♯11 – E♭m7 – A♭7 – D♭m7 – G♭7 – Bmaj7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭maj7 – C7 – Fm7 – B♭7
  #Vmaj7 – #I7#11 – i7 – IV7 – bvii7 – bIII7 – #Vmaj7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7

A Section 3

• E♭maj7 – G♭dim7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – B♭m7 – E♭7 – A♭maj7 – Adim7 – Gm7 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭6 – Cm7 – Fm7 – B♭7
  Imaj7 – biii°7 – ii7 – V7 – v7 – I7 – IVmaj7 – #iv°7 – iii7 – vi7 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – vi7 – ii7 – V7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Gm7	iii7	In the key	Intro, A Section
Cm7	vi7	In the key	Intro, A Section
Fm7	ii7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge
B♭7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge
E♭6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
E♭maj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, Bridge
G♭dim7	biii°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
B♭m7	v7	Borrowed from E♭ minor	A Section
E♭7	I7	Secondary dominant (V/IV)	A Section
A♭maj7	IVmaj7	In the key	A Section
Adim7	#iv°7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
C7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	A Section, Bridge
D♭m7	bvii7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Bridge
G♭7	bIII7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section, Bridge
Bmaj7	#Vmaj7	Borrowed from E♭ minor	Bridge
E7♯11	#I7#11	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
E♭m7	i7	Borrowed from E♭ minor	Bridge
A♭7	IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• B♭m7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• Bmaj7 (#Vmaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• E♭m7 (i7) is borrowed from the parallel key, E♭ minor.
• E♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to A♭maj7.
• C7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Fm7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” (credited “Kern Jerome”, style Ballad) 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 “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” (credited “Kern Jerome”, style Ballad) 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 100%).
• 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.
• 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.