Analysis of "Fly me to the moon" ...?

[Jim Kroger]

Hi all....I'm trying to identify chord funtions in "Fly me to the moon"
and am wondering about a couple ambiguities...

Here are the chords I have along with the functions and modulations I've
come up with. I'm assuming all the key centers are major. Keys in [].

[C] Am7(vi) Dm7(ii) G7(V) CM7(I) [A] FM7(VI) Bm7b5(ii) E7(V) Am7(i)

[C] Dm7(ii) G7(V) [D] Em7(ii) A7(V) [C] Dm7(ii) G7(V) [A] Bm7b5(ii)
E7(V)

[C] Am7(vi) Dm7(ii) G7(V) CM7(I) [A] FM7(VI) Bm7b5(ii) E7(V) Am7(i)

[C] Dm7(ii) G7(V) [A] Bb7 Em7b5 [C] Dm7(ii) G7(V) [A] C(I) Dm7(ii)

Is the FM7 (line 1) correct? The Aeolian is minor but the chord is given
as major seventh. Should it be the IV of the previous key center
instead? (the lydian of C)

And should the Am7 (end of line 1) be the minor I chord of the group of
chords in the key of A? I don't what else it could be but it seems wierd
since the I should be major.

Am I right that the key keeps hoping around so much in the rest of the
tune?

Thanks...
Jim

[florian schmidt]

On Tue, 30 Dec 2003 20:27:48 -0700, Jim Kroger wrote:

> Is the FM7 (line 1) correct? The Aeolian is minor but the chord is given
> as major seventh. Should it be the IV of the previous key center instead?
> (the lydian of C)

Yes, the Fmajor7 is the IV of C.

>
> And should the Am7 (end of line 1) be the minor I chord of the group of
> chords in the key of A? I don't what else it could be but it seems wierd
> since the I should be major.

Hmm, there's two different sorts of keys: major and minor. But some minor
and major keys are very closely related. For example, the Key of Aminor is
the parallel minor of the Key of C. That means: they share all the notes
[C D E F G A B]. So for example a progression like this:

Dm7 G7 Cmaj7 Fmaj7 Bm7b5 E7 Am7

can be seen as being all in C. Actually the notes of the Cmajor scale fit
all these chords except for the E7 where you have the choice of playing G#
instead of G.

>
> Am I right that the key keeps hoping around so much in the rest of the
> tune?

See:

http://www.ralphpatt.com/VB/f5.html

There are some alternative changes which are very closely related to the
ones you use though.. One difference is that some chords become dominants
in the second half of a bar [like Cmajor7 becomes C7]. This is done to
"lead" nicely to the next chord, but isn't really a key change. Usually
only one note changes for the duration of the dominant chord.

In the case of Cmaj7 C7, the B becomes a Bb. In the case of Am7 A7, the C
becomes a C#. So at the points in time where we still are in C, but we
alter one note of the c-scale to reflect the change of the chordtone..

Now, it is possible to call these situations "happening in another key",
but i think this is confusing and doesn't help much.

So basically all of "Fly me to the moon" is in C. There's one more chord
in this piece that might confuse you [or two]: the Fm6 in bar 15 and the
Em7b5 in bar 27.

The Fm6 is part of a very common progression in Jazz:

IVmaj7 - IVm - Imaj7

the IVmaj7 is just left away here. To find out which scale to play on this
chord, start with the chord tones of Fm and add tones around these
preferably from the c-major scale. In your version of the changes you have
a Bb7 in that spot. This chord is closely related to the Fm6. The same
thing applies here: Take the chord tones of Bb7 and see what else fits and
leads nicely to C. I find that F-melodic minor is alright here.. Actually
only two notes are changed from C-major: B becomes Bb and A becomes Ab.

The last mysterious chord, the Em7b5 in bar 27 is easily exaplained as a
chord which belongs to the following A7. Here a ii-v-i in D-minor is
hinted at. But we really are still in C. At this point it can sound nice
though to play in F [parallel major key of Dminor], with putting emphasis
on the C# on the A7.

So all in all: The piece is in C all the way through but depending on the
sound you want you have the choice of playing the altered notes from those
chords that have tones that are not from C. To sound jazzy this really is
a must :)

--
music: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/9/florianschmidt.htm

[Jim Kroger]

Florian...thanks much for the great answer. I've psent a little time
thinking it through. Having the wrong chords didn't help but I see that
just looking for the V chords doesn't always yield a complete analysis.
Thanks again.

Jim