Strike Up the Band by George Gershwin

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 26 · Sections: 8

Form: A Section → B Section → C Section → D Section → A Section → B Section → C Section → D 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

• F7 – B♭ – B♭6 – B♭ – Bdim – F7 – B♭
  V7 – I – I6 – I – #i° – V7 – I

B Section 1

• A♭ – B♭7 – Cm – E♭ – Edim – B♭7 – E♭
  bVII – I7 – ii – IV – #iv° – I7 – IV

C Section 1

• E♭m6 – B♭ – B♭6 – B♭ – E♭ – E♭maj7 – Am – D9 – Am – D7 – Gm – C9 – Gm – C7 – F7
  iv6 – I – I6 – I – IV – IVmaj7 – vii – III9 – vii – III7 – vi – II9 – vi – II7 – V7

D Section 1

• B♭ – Dm7 – G9 – G7 – Cm7 – Gm – E♭6 – Gm6 – Fmaj7(no3) – F7 – B♭ – G
  I – iii7 – VI9 – VI7 – ii7 – vi – IV6 – vi6 – Vmaj7(no3) – V7 – I – VI

A Section 2

• C – F7 – B♭ – B♭6 – B♭ – Bdim – F7 – B♭
  II – V7 – I – I6 – I – #i° – V7 – I

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

C Section 2

Same chords as C Section 1.

D Section 2

• B♭ – Dm7 – G9 – G7 – Cm7 – Gm – E♭6 – Gm6 – Fmaj7(no3) – F7 – B♭ – G – C – F7 – B♭
  I – iii7 – VI9 – VI7 – ii7 – vi – IV6 – vi6 – Vmaj7(no3) – V7 – I – VI – II – V7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• A♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• E♭m6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, B♭ minor.
• B♭7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to E♭.
• D7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to Gm.
• C7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F7.
• G7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Cm7.
• C acts as V/V: it resolves to F7.

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.
• 1 chord was simplified to the closest symbol our player supports (for example, an unusual added tone dropped).
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.