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6.14.3
"It Was a Very Good Year" Chords: How the Chord Progression Works

The chords to "It Was a Very Good Year," recorded by Frank Sinatra in the key of D minor, reveal that the song uses both sequential and parallel key modulation types. A dominant-seventh-to-tonic progression (A7 – Dm) at the outset of “It Was A Very Good Year” establishes tonality in a minor key.

Then the progression moves outside the circular harmonic scale to the chromatic chord E♭ for a couple of bars, then back to the tonic.

Sequential modulation follows with a series of second progressions that ends on the parallel major chord, D major (Figure 115 below):

F – E♭ – D – C – D

Chord progression Chase chart for the 1961 hit song It Was a Very Good Year, recorded by Frank Sinatra and written by Ervin Drake.

FIGURE 115: Chord Map of “It Was a Very Good Year” (Words and Music by Ervin Drake, 1961)

Getting back to the original key of D minor (from D major) then becomes a simple matter of moving to the dominant chord, A7 (the dominant chord for both keys), and then to D minor.

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