Tell It Like It Is by Aaron Neville

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 10 · Sections: 5

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

• Dm – G7 – C – Cmaj7 – C6 – A7
  ii – V7 – I – Imaj7 – I6 – VI7

A Section

• Dm – G7 – C – Cmaj7 – C6 – A7 – Dm – G7 – C – Cmaj7 – C6 – C
  ii – V7 – I – Imaj7 – I6 – VI7 – ii – V7 – I – Imaj7 – I6 – I

B Section

• Em – Am (×2)
  iii – vi
• Em – F – G7 – Dm7 – G7
  iii – IV – V7 – ii7 – V7

C Section 1

• Dm – G7 – C – Cmaj7 – C6 – A7 – Dm – G7 – C – Cmaj7 – C6 – C
  ii – V7 – I – Imaj7 – I6 – VI7 – ii – V7 – I – Imaj7 – I6 – I
• Em – Am (×2)
  iii – vi
• Em – F – G7 – Dm7
  iii – IV – V7 – ii7

C Section 2

• Dm – G7 – C – Cmaj7 – C6 – A7 – Dm – G7 – C – Cmaj7 – C6 – C
  ii – V7 – I – Imaj7 – I6 – VI7 – ii – V7 – I – Imaj7 – I6 – I
• Em – Am (×2)
  iii – vi
• Em – F – G7 – Dm7 – G7
  iii – IV – V7 – ii7 – V7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Dm	ii	In the key	Intro, A Section, C Section
G7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section, B Section, C Section
C	I	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, C Section
Cmaj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, C Section
C6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section, C Section
A7	VI7	Secondary dominant (V/ii)	A Section, C Section
Em	iii	In the key	B Section, C Section
Am	vi	In the key	B Section, C Section
F	IV	In the key	B Section, C Section
Dm7	ii7	In the key	B Section, C Section

Harmonic highlights

• A7 acts as V/ii: it resolves to Dm.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Tell It Like It Is (Beloff arr.)” (credited “George Davis, Lee Diamond”, style Slowly) 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 “Tell It Like It Is” (credited “George Davis and Lee Diamond”, style Slow Blues) 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.
• 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.