Up With The Lark by Jerome Kern

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 34 · Sections: 6

Form: Intro → Intro → Intro → A Section → B Section → A 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 1

• Cmaj7/G – C6/G – G9sus4 – G7
  Imaj⁴₃ – I6 (bass G) – V9sus4 – V7

Intro 2

Same chords as Intro 1.

Intro 3

• Cmaj7/G – C6/G – G9sus4 – G7 – C6 – E♭13 – A♭maj7 – G7♯9
  Imaj⁴₃ – I6 (bass G) – V9sus4 – V7 – I6 – bIII13 – bVImaj7 – V7#9

A Section 1

• C6 – G9 – C69 – Fm6 – Em7 – Am7 – D7 – A♭7
  I6 – V9 – I69 – iv6 – iii7 – vi7 – II7 – bVI7
• Dm7 – G13 (×2)
  ii7 – V13
• C69 – E♭13 – A♭maj7 – G7♯9
  I69 – bIII13 – bVImaj7 – V7#9

B Section

• Cmaj7 – G9 – C69 – Gm7 – F♯m7 – B7 – E69 – C♯m7 – F♯m7 – B7 – Emaj7 – C♯m7 – Fm7 – B♭7 – E♭69 – A13 – Aaug7 – Dmaj7 – B/G – A/F – G/E♭ – F/D♭
  Imaj7 – V9 – I69 – v7 – #iv7 – VII7 – III69 – #i7 – #iv7 – VII7 – IIImaj7 – #i7 – iv7 – bVII7 – bIII69 – VI13 – VI+7 – IImaj7 – VII (bass G) – VI (bass F) – V (bass E♭) – IV (bass D♭)

A Section 2

• C6 – G9 – C69 – Fm6 – Em7 – Am7 – D7 – A♭7 – Cmaj7/G – C6/G – G9sus4 – G7 – C6 – E♭13 – A♭maj7 – G7♯9
  I6 – V9 – I69 – iv6 – iii7 – vi7 – II7 – bVI7 – Imaj⁴₃ – I6 (bass G) – V9sus4 – V7 – I6 – bIII13 – bVImaj7 – V7#9

Chord vocabulary

Chord	Roman numeral	Role	Heard in
Cmaj7/G	Imaj⁴₃	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
C6/G	I6 (bass G)	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
G9sus4	V9sus4	In the key	Intro, A Section
G7	V7	In the key	Intro, A Section
C6	I6	Home chord (tonic)	Intro, A Section
E♭13	bIII13	Outside the key (chromatic)	Intro, A Section
A♭maj7	bVImaj7	Borrowed from C minor	Intro, A Section
G7♯9	V7#9	Borrowed from C minor	Intro, A Section
G9	V9	In the key	A Section, B Section
C69	I69	Home chord (tonic)	A Section, B Section
Fm6	iv6	Borrowed from C minor	A Section
Em7	iii7	In the key	A Section
Am7	vi7	In the key	A Section
D7	II7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
A♭7	bVI7	Outside the key (chromatic)	A Section
Dm7	ii7	In the key	A Section
G13	V13	In the key	A Section
Cmaj7	Imaj7	Home chord (tonic)	B Section
Gm7	v7	Borrowed from C minor	B Section
F♯m7	#iv7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
B7	VII7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
E69	III69	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
C♯m7	#i7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Emaj7	IIImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Fm7	iv7	Borrowed from C minor	B Section
B♭7	bVII7	Borrowed from C minor	B Section
E♭69	bIII69	Borrowed from C minor	B Section
A13	VI13	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Aaug7	VI+7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
Dmaj7	IImaj7	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
B/G	VII (bass G)	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
A/F	VI (bass F)	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section
G/E♭	V (bass E♭)	Borrowed from C minor	B Section
F/D♭	IV (bass D♭)	Outside the key (chromatic)	B Section

Harmonic highlights

• A♭maj7 (bVImaj7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• G7♯9 (V7#9) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fm6 (iv6) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Gm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• Fm7 (iv7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭7 (bVII7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• E♭69 (bIII69) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• G/E♭ (V (bass E♭)) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.

Sources & accuracy

• Chords: the iReal Pro forum charts archived in ChoCo (de Berardinis et al., 2023). Community chord chart “Up With The Lark” (credited “Kern Jerome”, style Medium Swing) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Artist as credited on the chart.
• 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 “Up With The Lark” (credited “Kern Jerome”, style Medium Swing) from the forum file linked here, CC BY 4.0 via ChoCo. Artist as credited on the chart. A separately posted chart of the same song; its chords match this page's closely when both are read in the same key (similarity 92%).
• 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.
• 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.
• 3 chords were 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.