Until You Come Back to Me (That's What I'm Gonna Do) by Aretha Franklin

Overview

Key: A major · Chords used: 18 · Sections: 4

Form: Intro → Verse → Outro → Outro

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

• Amaj7 – Am7/D – Gmaj7 – F♯m7 – Em7
  Imaj7 – i7 (bass D) – bVIImaj7 – vi7 – v7

Verse

• Em7 – F♯m7
  v7 – vi7
• Gmaj7 – Amaj7 – D7 (×2)
  bVIImaj7 – Imaj7 – IV7
• Gmaj7 – Em – A – Am/F♯ – B7 – G/E – A – D7 – G/D
  bVIImaj7 – v – I – i (bass F♯) – II7 – bVII (bass E) – I – IV7 – bVII⁶₄
• Gmaj7 – Amaj7 – D7 (×2)
  bVIImaj7 – Imaj7 – IV7
• Gmaj7 – Em – A – Am/F♯ – B7 – G/E – A – D7 – G/D – Gmaj7 – Dm – G – Cmaj7 – Em – E – Asus4
  bVIImaj7 – v – I – i (bass F♯) – II7 – bVII (bass E) – I – IV7 – bVII⁶₄ – bVIImaj7 – iv – bVII – bIIImaj7 – v – V – Isus4
• Amaj7 – D7 – Gmaj7 (×2)
  Imaj7 – IV7 – bVIImaj7
• Em – A – Am/F♯ – B7
  v – I – i (bass F♯) – II7

Outro 1

• G/E – A – D7 – G – Bm/G – Am/F♯ (×2)
  bVII (bass E) – I – IV7 – bVII – ii (bass G) – i (bass F♯)
• G/E – A – D7
  bVII (bass E) – I – IV7

Outro 2

• G
  bVII
• Amaj7 – D7 – Gmaj7 (×4)
  Imaj7 – IV7 – bVIImaj7

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Amaj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, Verse, Outro
Am7/D	i7 (bass D)	Borrowed from A minor	Intro
Gmaj7	bVIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, Verse, Outro
F♯m7	vi7	In the key	Intro, Verse
Em7	v7	Borrowed from A minor	Intro, Verse
D7	IV7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse, Outro
Em	v	Borrowed from A minor	Verse
A	I	Home chord (tonic)	Verse, Outro
Am/F♯	i (bass F♯)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse, Outro
B7	II7	Outside the key (chromatic)	Verse
G/E	bVII (bass E)	Borrowed from A minor	Verse, Outro
G/D	bVII⁶₄	Borrowed from A minor	Verse
Dm	iv	Borrowed from A minor	Verse
G	bVII	Borrowed from A minor	Verse, Outro
Cmaj7	bIIImaj7	Borrowed from A minor	Verse
E	V	In the key	Verse
Asus4	Isus4	Home chord (tonic)	Verse
Bm/G	ii (bass G)	Outside the key (chromatic)	Outro

Harmonic highlights

• Am7/D (i7 (bass D)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Em7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Em (v) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• G/E (bVII (bass E)) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• G/D (bVII⁶₄) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Dm (iv) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• G (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.
• Cmaj7 (bIIImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, A minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Until You Come Back To Me” (credited “Franklin Aretha”, style Rock) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Performer confirmed from the Billboard year-end charts.
• 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 “Until You Come Back To Me (Aretha Francklin 73)” (credited “Stevie Wonder Morris Broadnax Clarence Pau”, style Pop Smooth) 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 80%).
• 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.