Songe d'automne — chords & grille (gypsy jazz)
Songe d'automne by Archibald Joyce — key of C (swing), 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
Written by Archibald Joyce, England's "waltz king", as an 1908 bestselling waltz, Songe d'automne crossed into gypsy jazz when Django Reinhardt and the QHCF recorded it in 1947. (It's also tied to Titanic lore, among the airs the ship's band may have played.)
The sound — a brooding C minor that walks its tonic through Cm, CmMaj7, Cm7 and Cm6 — the classic descending minor line — before opening into brighter E♭ and A♭ major and a D9.
Practising it — nail that Cm–CmMaj7–Cm7–Cm6 chromatic inner voice, then work C harmonic minor and the E♭/A♭ arpeggios for the major sections. It's a waltz: keep the 3/4 lilt.
Songe d'automne chords — the grille
A : | Cm | CmΔ | Cm7 | Cm6 | Fm | Fm | F#° | G7 | Cm | CmΔ | Cm7 | C7 | Fm | B♭7 | E♭ | G7 | Cm | G7 | G7 | Cm | B♭m | E♭7 | A♭ | C#7 | Cm | A♭7 | Cm | Fm | F#° | G7 | Cm | Cm | Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm | D9 | G7 | Cm | C7 | Fm | Fm | Cm | Cm | D9 | G7 | Cm | C7 |
Chords used
Cm · CmΔ · Cm7 · Cm6 · Fm · F#° · G7 · C7 · B♭7 · E♭ · B♭m · E♭7 · A♭ · C#7 · A♭7 · D9
Play along
Open the interactive grille for Songe d'automne: 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.