Embraceable You Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–5

Gmaj7 | E7 | Am7 | D7 | Gmaj7

This is a short excerpt, not the full chart. The composition dates from 1930 and is old enough that it is very likely in the public domain in the United States, which is why the excerpt runs longer here — but copyright status varies by territory and by edition, so treat that as context, not as legal advice.

The books behind this page

Every one of these tunes is assembled out of the same handful of harmonic resources. Jazz Harmony is those resources, explained in the order in which they build on each other.

Start here Project 03 · Harmony

Harmonic analysis

Key

G major

Tonal center

G

Confidence

High

Chords analysed

5

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Gmaj7	I	Tonic	Gmaj7 is the tonic of G. It is where the progression is at rest.	High
E7	V7/ii	Dominant	E7 is functioning as V7/ii: a secondary dominant. It is the dominant of A, not of the home key, so it borrows the pull of a V-I and points it at ii instead.	High
Am7	ii	Predominant	Am7 is the ii chord of G: the classic predominant. It prepares the dominant and almost always moves to it.	High
D7	V7	Dominant	D7 is the dominant of G. Its third and seventh form a tritone, and that tritone is what makes the tonic feel due.	High
Gmaj7	I	Tonic	Gmaj7 is the tonic of G. It is where the progression is at rest.	High

What the analyzer found in it

ii - V7 - IAm7 - D7 - Gmaj7

A complete ii-V-I in G. Predominant, dominant, tonic: the sentence jazz harmony is built out of.

V - ID7 - Gmaj7

The progression closes with an authentic cadence in G.

High, medium and low next to each numeral are judgements about musical context, not probabilities. A low rating marks a bar that can honestly be read more than one way. How the ratings are decided →

Why this example matters

Read in G major, these bars come out as I – V7/ii – ii – V7. Inside those 5 chords there is a complete ii-V-I and at least one secondary dominant. The shortest way in is a two-voice reduction: third and seventh only, slowly. E7 contributes G# and D, and where that pair resolves is the whole story of the passage. You will meet the same move again in Stella by Starlight, How High the Moon and Ornithology, transposed and at a different pace.

How the rest of Embraceable You goes

A ballad in which almost every chord is a secondary dominant preparing the next, so the harmony is in continuous motion while the melody takes its time — the same combination as Georgia on My Mind but denser. The bridge moves to the relative minor and stays long enough to change the mood. The tune is generous to a soloist because every one of those dominants offers an obvious place to add tension, and it is one of the standard vehicles for learning to alter a dominant chord without losing the thread.

Embraceable You on record

George and Ira Gershwin wrote it for Girl Crazy in 1930, the same show that produced I Got Rhythm. Charlie Parker recorded two takes of it in 1947 that are among the most transcribed performances in the music — the two differ almost completely from each other, which is why they are usually studied as a pair rather than singly.

Analyze this progression

The excerpt is loaded and editable. Swap a chord for its tritone substitute, delete the preparation, borrow one from the parallel minor, and watch which numerals change and which do not.

Open in Jazz Harmony Analyzer →

Embraceable You — Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

The books behind this page

Jazz Harmony

Harmonic Narrative

Jazz Guitar Comping

Harmonic analysis

What the analyzer found in it

Why this example matters

How the rest of Embraceable You goes

Embraceable You on record

Analyze this progression

Related

ii-V-I

Secondary dominants

Stella by Starlight

How High the Moon

Ornithology

Jazz chord progressions