Frank Sinatra - Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas - Chord

Chord degrees: major and relative minor

Show the degrees above the chords — relative to C or to Am; comparing both readings is a practice of its own.

Every chord of the key, listed 1 to 7 separately for each key. Chords played in the song show how often they appear; chords from outside the scale sit next to their own degree.

Analysis

The key pair is C major and its relative A minor (no sharps or flats). 15 different chords appear 80 times in total; 9 of them sit naturally inside the shared scale. The major V of Am brings the harmonic-minor leading tone, giving the minor side a sharper, more dramatic pull; seen from C, the same E7 is V7/vi, a secondary dominant heading for Am. B7, D7, A7, C7 act as secondary dominants, briefly pointing at another chord of the key.

Chord movement

1. Dm7 → G7 Cii7 → V7ii → V Amiv7 → VII7 ×14
2. G7 → Cmaj7 CV7 → Imaj7authentic cadence AmVII7 → IIImaj7 ×12
3. E7 → Am CV7/vi → visecondary resolution AmV7 → iharmonic-minor cadence ×2
4. B7 → Em CV7/iii → iiisecondary resolution AmV7/v → v ×2
5. Dm7 → E7 Cii7 → V7/vi Amiv7 → V7iv → V ×2
6. G7 → C CV7 → Iauthentic cadence AmVII7 → III ×1

The move to watch is Dm7 → G7, heard 14 times. From the C side it reads ii7 → V7 (ii → V: the classic preparation of the dominant); from the Am side it is iv7 → VII7. Knowing where these arrivals fall helps you feel the phrasing and anticipate the next chord.

Capo and easier keys

The song's harmonic story

The first chord is Cmaj7; the ear learns where home is within a second. The chords that keep coming back are Am7, Dm7, G7, Cmaj7; read them as vi7–ii7–V7–Imaj7 in C or i7–iv7–VII7–IIImaj7 in Am. E7 is the interesting twist: in C it is a chromatic chord (V7/vi), while in Am it becomes the dominant (V7) that makes the minor side sound so determined. Keep an ear on Dm7 → G7 (ii7 → V7 in C, iv7 → VII7 in Am): ii → V — the classic preparation of the dominant. The final chord is C; the ear comes to rest in C.

This analysis is generated from the song's chords by akorculuk's harmony engine using consistent rules. When you change key, the degrees stay the same; only the chord names change.