All of me Why not take all of me? Can't you see? I'm no good without you Take my lips I want to lose them Take my arms I never use them Your goodbye Left me with eyes that cry How can I go on, dear, without you? You took the part That once was my heart So why not take all of me?
I'm VERY green to jazz and I'm wondering how there is an E7 in the key of C Major...I thought for sure the 3 chord is minor and therefore a minor 7th, but in this tune the 3rd is a dominant chord. Similarly, the A7 I would expect to be just minor 7. I see that they both change to the minor 7ths after the first line..this might be something extremely basic, but I would appreciate if someone could explain or at least point me in the right direction.
Hi, Daniel, I saw your comment with no reply so I thought I'd try to help a little. This song is probably a jazz favorite because it does NOT use a simple chord progression. IMHO, it constantly changes it tonal center and that is why it is still so popular after all these years. It starts and ends on C6 so it is said to be in C. But, as you note, it almost immediately changes its tonal center. The first two bars are C6. Then, we get the change to E7. In C, that's dom 3 and that's odd. The 'correct' diatonic chord would be Cm, as you say. So, something has happened already. But, it sounds cool, right? Listen to 'Imagine' by John Lennon. In the chorus, he does the same thing. The song is in C and yet he uses an E major when he sings the chorus: (F) "You may (G) say, I'm a dreamer (C up to E major/E7)..." Music is subjective and people can debate exactly what is happening in the move to E7 in 'All of Me.' If you look at bars 7 and 8, you see they use D min. So, I think of the song being in D min after the first two bars. That makes the E7 a dom second chord, which is still not normal. But, at least it makes the A7 the fifth of the D melodic minor scale, which makes a (modified) II, V, I out of the E7, A7, D min in the last part of the first eight bars. That's probably the most common progression there is so it seems reasonable to me. Frankly, I think it's pretty complex and technical and even arguable what is going on. I think that's why people like the song so much, especially in jazz where unusual things are much more appreciated. It's probably why some people hate jazz and others love it. I hope that's not too complex. If I were trying to improvise over this tune, I'd carefully work out the scales that sound right for each chord change and not worry too much about what key the song is said to be written in. Best of luck!
@@YamahaC7SRG thank you so much! That explanation really makes sense and confirms…I suspected the tonal center was just moving a bunch, therefore, to improvise, I would need to move with the centers. I love the sound, in fact, I made it a point in one of my tunes I’m working on to swap the minor third at the end of the verse with a 7. This theory is opening up my world!!! Thank you!
Not sure if you're still interested, but it's not that weird in the end. What you see is a progression of dominants (I hope I use the correct terms, I'm not a native speaker), so each "weird" chord has the function to lead to the next, which then in itself leads to the next, which creates a nice dynamic. E to A to D to G which is the dominant of the original key. For improvising, don't theorize about it too much, would be my recommandation. Check out the notes which are "off key", they can add a nice touch, but like for the basis stick to your C major/a minor scales, and just try to get a feeling for the progression and have fun with it! :)
as other people said its a secondary dominant. But also. It sounds cool. It doesn't have to make sense "musictheoryly" as long as you think it sounds good in my opinion. Thats what music has always been about. Sometimes people stray from that I think.
