I Can't Give You Anything But Love — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
I Can't Give You Anything But Love by Jimmy McHugh & Dorothy Fields — key of G (manouche), form A. Below is the full chord grid; on Haute Gitanerie you can play along with a scrolling chord ribbon, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and switch on a rhythm backing (la pompe) to practise your solos over the changes.
About
Music by Jimmy McHugh, lyrics by Dorothy Fields, written in 1928 for Blackbirds of 1928, where it became a huge hit despite poor early reviews. A swing-era standard that sits naturally under manouche fingers.
The sound — easygoing G major coloured by chromatic passing diminished chords (B♭dim, D♭dim) and secondary dominants (A7, E7) linking the ii-Vs. Warm and songful.
Practising it — set a medium swing pompe and voice the diminished passing chords smoothly. Outline each ii-V and let the chromatic bass motion guide your lines. A relaxed, vocal phrasing suits it.
I Can't Give You Anything But Love chords — the grille
A : | G Am | Bm B♭° | Am | D7 | G Am | Bm B♭° | Am | D7 | Dm | G7 | C | C | A7 | A7 | D7 | D7 | G Am | Bm B♭° | Am | D7 | Dm | G7 | C | C | C | C#° | G | E7 | Am | D7 | G | G |
Chords used
G · Am · Bm · B♭° · D7 · Dm · G7 · C · A7 · C#° · E7
Play along
Open the interactive grille for I Can't Give You Anything But Love: loop any section, transpose to any key, set the tempo, and play over a rhythm accompaniment — with a real recorded pompe on featured tunes. In the browser, free.