Fly Me to the Moon Chord Progression & Harmonic Analysis

Chord progression

Analyzed excerpt

Section: A1 · Bars 1–4

Am7 | Dm7 | G7 | Cmaj7

This is a short excerpt quoted for analysis, not the full chart, and this composition is very likely still in copyright. Published versions and recordings disagree with each other about the rest of the tune, and often about these bars too.

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

C major

Tonal center

C

Confidence

High

Chords analysed

4

Chord	Roman numeral	Function	What it is doing	Confidence
Am7	vi	Tonic	Am7 is the vi chord — the relative minor. It shares three notes with the tonic and often replaces it.	High
Dm7	ii	Predominant	Dm7 is the ii chord of C: the classic predominant. It prepares the dominant and almost always moves to it.	High
G7	V7	Dominant	G7 is the dominant of C. Its third and seventh form a tritone, and that tritone is what makes the tonic feel due.	High
Cmaj7	I	Tonic	Cmaj7 is the tonic of C. It is where the progression is at rest.	High

What the analyzer found in it

ii - V7 - IDm7 - G7 - Cmaj7

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

V - IG7 - Cmaj7

The progression closes with an authentic cadence in C.

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

Numbered against C major, the excerpt is vi – ii – V7 – I. Inside those 4 chords there is a complete ii-V-I. Take the roots away and keep the third and seventh. In G7 that is B and F. Those two notes decide where the progression is going, and hearing them move is worth more than naming the chords. Autumn Leaves, All The Things You Are and Tune Up use the same device, which is the argument for learning it once properly rather than three times by accident.

How the rest of Fly Me to the Moon goes

Built almost entirely on a descending cycle of fourths — each chord’s root a fourth above the last — running most of the way around the circle before arriving home. That single device accounts for the whole form, which is why the tune feels inevitable: once the first three chords have gone by, the ear can predict every remaining one. It was written in three-four and is now almost always played in four, a change that alters the phrasing considerably and is worth knowing before reading an old chart.

Fly Me to the Moon on record

Bart Howard wrote it in 1954 under the title “In Other Words”, and it circulated that way for years before the opening line took over as the name. Frank Sinatra’s 1964 recording with Count Basie, arranged by Quincy Jones in four-four, is the version that made it ubiquitous; it was also played on the Apollo missions, which cemented the association the retitling had suggested.

Analyze this progression

Open these chords in the analyzer and change them. Move one chord, substitute a dominant, take the ii away — the reading updates and tells you what you just did.

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Fly Me to the Moon — 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 Fly Me to the Moon goes

Fly Me to the Moon on record

Analyze this progression

Related

ii-V-I

Autumn Leaves

All The Things You Are

Tune Up

Jazz chord progressions