Exploring the Harmony of 'My Ideal' (Chase/Whiting/Robin)

'My Ideal' featured in the paramount picture, 'Playboy of Paris'. The music was composed by Richard A whiting and Newell Chase and the Lyrics were created by Leo Robin in 1930. It was first recorded by Maurice Chevalier on August 15th, 1930 and released in the theatre on October 18th of the same year. Many covers and arrangements have been recorded ever since. Most notable, perhaps, is Chet Bakers rendition in 1956 (1).

Let's take a look at the lead sheet, taken from 'The Real Book. 6th edition' published by Hal Leonard:

(All legal copyright belongs to Hal Leonard Europe).

This piece is written in the key of E flat major. This is clear for several reasons- 1) 3 flats in the key signature (Bb, Eb, Ab) which suggest either E flat major or C minor.n It suggests E flat, however, due to the presence of an E flat chord over the first and last melodic note of the piece. 2) The presence of 2 cadential progressions from bar 15-16: Fm7-Bb7-Eb6 (x2). This is the so called ' 2-5-1 progression. It really functions to establish the key which, in this instance, is quite clearly E flat major. It is likely that this ii-V7-I progression is the staple harmonic structure for an introduction to the performance of this jazz standard. Although, some Jazz artists may enjoy teasing with a listeners ear and keep the key centre ambiguous for effect!

Much of our thought about an established key in this piece may be clouded upon an initial reading of this lead sheet due to the strange progression from Ebmaj7 (Chord 1) - C7 (a dominant chord but not in this key because it lacks the Eb that is congruent to Eb major. It is therefore the dominant chord in F) - Fm7 (Where did that come from?!). I am going to unpack this cleverly composed tune because I believe it to be packed full of compositional inspiration and genius that could be absorbed by musicians universally. Furthermore, I'm a bit of a geek! lol! Let's get stuck in...

So - why C7? Shouldn't chord 6 (which begins on a C but has an Eb present) be a minor chord? Yes, but the Eb is naturalised (we call this an accidental) which means that we could be looking at this dominant 7th (C7) chord as a point of modulation from one key to another. So, which key has a C7? It could well be a F major. C7 would be chord V and F major has a Bb in its key signature. But bar 2 still contains Ab in the melody which is incongruent with the key of F major. In fact, it suggests the minor equivalent of that! Let's take a look at the proceeding chords in order to decipher whether my assumption carries any weight - Bar 3: Db7 - AH! Now! This is significant! It marks the entry of a new flat -'Db'. We now have at our harmonic disposal, 4 flats (Bb, Eb, Ab, Db). This provides us with a question - are we in Ab major or F minor? Let's take a look at the context again! Notice the use of the dominant 7th chord (C7) again which is chord 5 in F minor (Dominant 7ths can function for either tonic minor/tonic major). What happened here then? Well, the composer is taking us for a ride to be honest! They are modulating in and out of keys at the speed of light. By bar 4, we sort of resolve to an F7. It is interesting to note that this F7 is played against the melodic note ‘G’ at this point which creates a flashy chord of an F9! This chord is consistent with our harmonic instinct that bar 1, beat 3, C7 was chord 5 of F major. So the presence of F-7 (which could be chord 2 in Eb major-Db7 (Chord 6 in Fm) was an elaborate route around the harmonic spectrum (a chromatic decoration teasing us back to that C7), hinting at F minor but because we land on F7 in bar 4, we lose our Ab! You could argue that bar 7’s harmony - Cm-F7-B7-Bb7 is a ii-V-I in Bb major with a chromatic encircling added (B7) to tease us back to chord 1 (Bb) but with the 7th which then changes its function to chord V in Eb major (Bar 9, b.1). In any case, One must really surmise that this piece is a 'restless wanderer'!

So - bar 5: Where are we? If we still had Ab's, we could've concluded that we were in F minor (I-V-I) but we have A naturals now and, what's more, the melody makes no hint of minor tonality. Thus, one must view the F7's presence as that of a modulation function! Why? It has rid us of both Ab's and Db's! This leaves us with only Bb's and Eb's and we seem to land onto a Bb chord. Are we in Bb major? Almost! But the presence of Ab (7th in the chord Bb7).thus reintroducing the Ab which could mean we are on chord 5 in Eb (congruent with the Bb,Eb,Ab current presence). However, it moves to an Fm7 which makes us think of it as chord II in Eb major, followed by the Bb7 as chord V. WAIT! Where is our Eb tonic resolve? It is interrupted by a G7 chord, which is V7 in C minor. Anyone exhausted yet?!

Bar 7, beat 3, we meet an F7 which is another nightmare for those of us trying to navigate the harmony of this beauty! Why is F7 there? It is a dominant 7th chord leading us to the tonic of Bb! So... Why the heck is there a B7?! B7 has sharps in it and we are thinking in flats! Please note the weirdness of the melody too (bar 8) which includes F#, G# and a B natural. What's going on here? Well. Take a look at the final note in the melody (end of B.8). It is a Bb! Ooo, that is the note we expected to see proceeding the F7. Note also, the chord symbol is a Bb7! What happened then? The composer has cleverly decorated the melodic and harmonic movement of the piece. He has created a 'down-up' shape within the melody and has caused the chord we anticipated to be approached via a chromatic movement that delightfully encircles the melody. Finally, we have a sense of resolve from the earlier F7 in bar 7, beat 3 in to the Bb7 on bar 8, beat 3. But Wait - "Oooh, my head hurts!" Bb7 is a dominant 7th. Whenever we get these - and we have had a lot - we recognise that we are shifting to another key! Which one? See bar 9 - Home (Ebmaj7). Home at last - for a breath at least!

Bar 9's melodic shape is intriguing - the notes spell out the name of the chord we are approaching next (C7)! This is a juicy moment because the overall sound we hear is a C9 chord due to the melody sounding a 'd' (9th/compound 2nd interval in a C major chord). This chord is then interrupted by what could be construed as chord II in Eb (or V7 to Fm chord in Bar 10). This is therefore, a kind of secondary dominant because it is both a dominant in F & a ‘ii7’ in Eb! This piece always seems to land somewhere but then, naughtily, strays off! It has some real "commitment issues"! The piece now introduces us to a new friend it has made on its journey of flirting - Db7. This adds a Db back into the flat presence mix, which hints at the presence of a bar and a half of F minor flavour (Key signature check : Bb, Eb, Ab, Db). Okay? So? Well - it feels we may have gone to chord VI in F minor. Have we? Db7! What is the 7th? C natural! Our flats within this map for the confused 'key travellers' are Db, Ab, Eb. Is there a key that has only these flats? No! So, it is just a 'passing fling'! Db7 moves to C7, reintroducing our Bb, as our new dominant 7th chord, bringing us to an F7, which is a temporary perfect cadence in F major, but still releasing unrelenting tension, due to its 7th (Eb). The tension makes us wander... will we visit Bb again or will we meet a new character altogether?

Bar 13 marks the beginning of an 'it's complicated' relationship!

Take a look -

Fm7-Ab7-Db7-Ebmaj7-D7-Db7-Cm7-Fm7-Bb7-Eb6 - "erghhhh???"

Bar 14: Ebmaj7-D7-Db7(semitone above following chord)-Cm7 - This section is essentially chromatic decoration. If the left hand part of the piano takes the 7th of the Ebmaj7 chord and voices it so the left hand thumb holds it, then we will watch and hear a chromatic descent as we progress through each chord - "D-Db-C ''. These chromatic chords provide us with crunchy tension (don't we all love a bit of drama?!) That led us to the V7 in F minor, resolved in bar 16, beat 1 with F minor, which also functions as chord II in Eb major, followed by chord V7 (Bb7. Although, due to the melody, we have a 13th chord!) and then resolves neatly on to the tonic of Eb6 (first time we ever encounter a chord that is not going anywhere else)! Guess we all need a rest at some point! It is then followed by the same II-V7-I progression, functioning as a 'turnaround (a term which refers to a connecting element that allows the performers to return to the beginning of the tune smoothly!

References:

1. secondhandsongs.com. (n.d.). Original versions of My Ideal written by Newell Chase, Richard A. Whiting, Leo Robin | SecondHandSongs. [online] Available at: https://secondhandsongs.com/work/142008 [Accessed 9 Jan. 2022].

Written by Mark Dowling