Waiting for the Robert E. Lee by Lewis F. Muir

Overview

Key: C major · Chords used: 11 · Sections: 8

Form: A Section → B Section → C Section → B Section → D Section → E Section → D Section → F 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

• C – F
  I – IV

B Section 1

• C – E7/B – F/A – C/G – D7/A – G7
  I – III⁴₃ – IV⁶ – I⁶₄ – II⁴₃ – V7

C Section

• C – F
  I – IV

B Section 2

• C – E7/B – F/A – C/G – D7/A – G7 – C – C7
  I – III⁴₃ – IV⁶ – I⁶₄ – II⁴₃ – V7 – I – I7

D Section 1

• F – C7/G – C7
  IV – I⁴₃ – I7

E Section

• Gm7 – C7 – F – C7
  v7 – I7 – IV – I7

D Section 2

Same chords as D Section 1.

F Section

• Gm7 – C7 – F – B♭
  v7 – I7 – IV – bVII
• F – G7 (×2)
  IV – V7
• F
  IV

Chord vocabulary

Harmonic highlights

• Gm7 (v7) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• B♭ (bVII) is borrowed from the parallel key, C minor.
• D7/A acts as V/V: it resolves to G7.
• C7 acts as V/IV: it resolves to F.

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.