Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer by Nat King Cole

Overview

Key: B♭ major · Chords used: 21 · Sections: 8

Form: Intro → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Chorus → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). This page shows that transcription 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.

Key changes

• Chorus 3 moves to B major.

Section by section

Intro

• B♭/D – D♭dim – F7/C
  I⁶ – biii° – V⁴₃

Chorus 1

• B♭ – C7 – F7 – F6 – F7 – B♭ – B♭/D – D♭dim – F7/C – B♭ – C7 – F7 – B♭
  I – II7 – V7 – V6 – V7 – I – I⁶ – biii° – V⁴₃ – I – II7 – V7 – I

Verse 1

• D7 – G – C7 – C7sus4 – B7♭9/D♯ – C7 – F7 – B♭/D – D♭dim – F7/C
  III7 – VI – II7 – II7sus4 – #I7b9 (bass D♯) – II7 – V7 – I⁶ – biii° – V⁴₃

Chorus 2

• B♭ – C7 – F7 – F6 – F7 – B♭ – B♭/D – D♭dim – F7/C – B♭ – C7 – F7 – B♭ – F♯7 – C♯7 – F♯7
  I – II7 – V7 – V6 – V7 – I – I⁶ – biii° – V⁴₃ – I – II7 – V7 – I – #V7 – #II7 – #V7

Chorus 3

• B – C♯7 – F♯7 – B – F♯7 – Ddim – F♯7/C♯ – B – C♯7 – F♯7 – B
  I – II7 – V7 – I – V7 – biii° – V⁴₃ – I – II7 – V7 – I

Verse 2

• D♯7 – G♯m – C♯7 – C♯7sus4 – C7♭9/E – C♯7 – F♯ – Ddim – F♯7/C♯
  III7 – vi – II7 – II7sus4 – bII7b9 (bass E) – II7 – V – biii° – V⁴₃

Chorus 4

• B – C♯7 – F♯7 – B – F♯ – Ddim – F♯7/C♯ – B – C♯7
  I – II7 – V7 – I – V – biii° – V⁴₃ – I – II7

Outro

• C♯7 – F♯7 – B (×3)
  II7 – V7 – I

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• C7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F7.
• C♯7 acts as V/V: it resolves to F♯7.
• D♯7 acts as V/vi: it resolves to G♯m.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0516, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.