The Japanese Sandman by Richard A. Whiting

Overview

Key: F major · Chords used: 16 · 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

• F – D7 – G7 – C – F
  I – VI7 – II7 – V – I

B Section 1

• F – A – E7 – A – Adim
  I – III – VII7 – III – iii°

C Section 1

• Gm – C7 – F – F7 – B♭ – B♭m – Gm
  ii – V7 – I – I7 – IV – iv – ii

D Section 1

• C7 – F – Dm – B♭ – G7 – F – G7 – C7 – F
  V7 – I – vi – IV – II7 – I – II7 – V7 – I

A Section 2

Same chords as A Section 1.

B Section 2

Same chords as B Section 1.

C Section 2

Same chords as C Section 1.

D Section 2

• C7 – F – Dm – B♭ – G7 – F – G7 – C7 – Fm – D♭7 – B7 – F
  V7 – I – vi – IV – II7 – I – II7 – V7 – i – bVI7 – #IV7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• B♭m (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• Fm (i) is borrowed from the parallel key, F minor.
• G7 acts as V/V: it resolves to C.
• F7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to B♭.

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.