Standards · 1941
My Ship chords & key
“My Ship” is a jazz standard by Kurt Weill from 1941. Most bands play it in F major, ballad; the tune runs 38 bars in AABC form. Harmonically it contains 4 major ii–V–I cadences and 5 minor ii–V–i, uses 19 different chords and moves between the key centres G minor, F major and A minor. In this atlas it appears on 5 album tracks.
Chord changes
Showing in: Concert (C) — F major
Changes as commonly played (concert pitch). Your band's version may differ.
Harmonic analysis
Most used chords
- C7×11
- Gm7×11
- D7×10
- Fmaj7×9
- Am7×7
- Dm7×6
Key centres reached by ii–V
G minor, F major and A minor
History
"My Ship" is a popular song written for the 1941 Broadway musical Lady in the Dark, with music by Kurt Weill and lyrics by Ira Gershwin. The music is marked "Andante espressivo"; Gershwin describes it as "orchestrated by Kurt to sound sweet and simple at times, mysterious and menacing at other". It was premiered by Gertrude Lawrence in the role of Liza Elliott, the editor of a fashion magazine. In the context of the show, the song comes in a sequence in which Elliott, in psychoanalysis, recalls a turn-of-the-century song she knew in her childhood. The song was not included in the 1944 Hollywood film Lady in the Dark, a fact which Ira Gershwin found inexplicable: Later, when Lady in the Dark was filmed, the script necessarily had many references to the song. But for some unfathomable reason the song itself—as essential to this musical drama as a stolen necklace or a missing will to a melodrama—was omitted.
Read the full article on Wikipedia ↗ · From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Recorded on these albums
Standards with similar changes
Similarity of the chord progression, independent of key.
| Title | Key |
|---|---|
| Over The Rainbow (Somewhere) 28% | E♭ major |
| Rockin' Chair 28% | E♭ major |
| People Will Say We're In Love 25% | C major |
| Rosetta 22% | F major |
| You Better Go Now 22% | E♭ major |
| Billy Boy 21% | C major |
| I'm An Old Cowhand 21% | E♭ major |
| This Is All I Ask 21% | F major |
Frequently asked questions
What key is My Ship in?
My Ship is usually played in F major. For B♭ instruments that is G major, for E♭ instruments D major.
Who wrote My Ship?
My Ship was written by Kurt Weill (1941).
What is the form of My Ship?
My Ship has 4 sections (AABC) with 38 bars in total.
How fast is My Ship played?
The usual groove is Ballad.
What are the chord changes to My Ship?
The opening bars are Fmaj7 D7 | G7 C7 | Fmaj7 D7 | Bm7b5 Bb7. The full chart above can be transposed to any key.