Stars Fell on Alabama by Frank Perkins

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 17 · 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

• Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – A7 – Dm7 – G7
  ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7

A Section 1

• Cmaj7 – A7 – Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – Fmaj7 – Em7 – A7♭9 – Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – A7 – Dm7 – G7
  Imaj7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – IVmaj7 – iii7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7

A Section 2

• Cmaj7 – A7 – Dm7 – G7 – Cmaj7 – Fmaj7 – Em7 – A7♭9 – Dm7 – G7 – C6 – Fm7 – C6 – A7
  Imaj7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7 – Imaj7 – IVmaj7 – iii7 – VI7b9 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – iv7 – I6 – VI7

Bridge

• Dm7 – G7 – Em7 – A7 – Dm7 – G7 – C6 – A7 – Dm7 – Dm/C – Bm7♭5 – E7 – Am7 – Am7/G – F♯m7 – B7 – Emaj7 – Dm7 – G7
  ii7 – V7 – iii7 – VI7 – ii7 – V7 – I6 – VI7 – ii7 – ii (bass C) – viiø7 – III7 – vi7 – vi⁴₂ – #iv7 – VII7 – IIImaj7 – ii7 – V7

A Section 3

Same chords as A Section 1.

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Dm7	ii7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge
G7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section, Bridge
Cmaj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
A7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	Intro, A Section, Bridge
Fmaj7	IVmaj7	In the key	A Section
Em7	iii7	In the key	A Section, Bridge
A7♭9	VI7b9	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	A Section
C6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, Bridge
Fm7	iv7	Borrowed from C minor	A Section
Dm/C	ii (bass C)	In the key	Bridge
Bm7♭5	viiø7	In the key	Bridge
E7	III7	Secondary dominant (V/vi)	Bridge
Am7	vi7	In the key	Bridge
Am7/G	vi⁴₂	In the key	Bridge
F♯m7	#iv7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
B7	VII7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge
Emaj7	IIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Bridge

Harmonic highlights

• Fm7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• A7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Dm7.
• A7♭9 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Dm7.
• E7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Am7.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Stars Fell On Alabama” (credited “Perkins Frank”, style Ballad) 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 “Stars Fell On Alabama” (credited “Perkins Frank”, style Ballad) 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 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.
• 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.