Arthur’s Theme | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
| Dm7 G7 | C Fmaj13 |
| Bb E7 | Aadd4 Asus2 A |
Verse 1
| Dm7 G | C Fmaj13 |
Once in your life you find her, someone that turns your heart around,
| Bb E7 | Aadd4 Asus2 A |
and next thing you know you’re closing down the town.
| Dm7 G | C Fmaj13 |
Wake up and it’s still with you, even though you left her way across town,
| Bb E7 | Aadd4 Asus2 A |
wondering to yourself, “Hey, what have I found?”
Chorus 1
| Dmaj7 Dma7#11 Dmaj7 | A |
When you get caught between the moon and New York City.
| Bsus2 Bm Bsus2 Bm | Asus2 C#m |
I know it’s crazy, but it’s true.
| Dmaj7 Dma7#11 Dmaj7 | A C#7sus4 C#m |
If you get caught between the moon and New York City.
| Bm Bm11 Bm | Bm Bm11 Bm Bsus2 | Aadd9 |
The best that you can do, the best that you can do, is fall in love.
Verse 2
| Dm7 G | C Fmaj13 |
Arthur, he does as he pleases, all of his life, he’s mastered choice.
| Bb E7 | Aadd4 Asus2 A |
Deep in his heart, he’s just, he’s just a boy.
| Dm7 G | C Fmaj13 |
Living his life one day at a time and showing himself a really good time,
| Bb E7 | Aadd4 Asus2 A |
laughing about the way they want him to be.
| Dmaj7 Dma7#11 Dmaj7 | A |
Chorus 2
When you get caught between the moon and New York City.
| Bsus2 Bm Bsus2 Bm | Asus2 C#m |
I know it’s crazy, but it’s true.
| Dmaj7 Dma7#11 Dmaj7 | A C#7sus4 C#m |
If you get caught between the moon and New York City.
| Bm Bm11 Bm | Bm Bm11 Bm Bsus2 | Aadd9 |
The best that you can do, the best that you can do, is fall in love.
Solo
| Dm7 G7 | C Fmaj13 |
| Bb E7 | Aadd4 Asus2 A |
| Dm7 G7 | C Fmaj13 |
| Bb E7 | Aadd4 Asus2 A |
Chorus 3
| Dmaj7 Dma7#11 Dmaj7 | A |
When you get caught between the moon and New York City.
| Bsus2 Bm Bsus2 Bm | Asus2 C#m |
I know it’s crazy, but it’s true.
| Dmaj7 Dma7#11 Dmaj7 | A C#7sus4 C#m |
If you get caught between the moon and New York City.
| Bm Bm11 Bm | Bm Bm11 Bm Bsus2 |
The best that you can do, the best that you can do, is fall in love.
Chorus 4
| Dmaj7 Dma7#11 Dmaj7 | A |
When you get caught between the moon and New York City.
| Bsus2 Bm Bsus2 Bm | Asus2 C#m |
I know it’s crazy, but it’s true.
| Dmaj7 Dma7#11 Dmaj7 | A C#7sus4 C#m |
If you get caught between the moon and New York City.
| Bm Bm11 Bm | Bm Bm11 Bm Bsus2 | Aadd9 |
The best that you can do, the best that you can do, is fall in love.
Arthur’s Theme’s chords and progressions
The genius chords of Arthur’s Theme take you from C major to A major, using the cycle of 4th. here’s how it’s done:
By starting on the II chord of C major, we move II – V – I – IV. Translated to the chords from C major this reads Dm – G – C – F.
At this point in the progression, we move outside the key as the cycle continues to a Bb (chord bVIIx), followed by an E (chord IIIx). Even this last move from Bb to E is a 4th, although this is a #4th.
This final E chord is now a transitional chord that takes us to A major. Since we have had such a long cycle of 4th it doesn’t feel like we are at home here, on the contrary, the A feels as if it wants to move on up yet another 4th.
When we go back to Dm, the cycle is complete and the verse progression can start again.
That’s one seriously long series of up a 4th movements, like this:
||: Dm7 G | C Fmaj13 |
| Bb E7 | Aadd4 Asus2 A :||
On my top 10 chord progression list, we find this movement at #10 as a VI – II, at #4 as a II – V, and at #1 as a I – IV. We just love hearing that “up a 4th” movement and Arthur’s Theme is one of the best examples of it.
Other songs that use this concept are I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor, Fly Me To The Moon by Frank Sinatra, Parisienne Walkways, and Still Got The Blues by Gary Moore.
Perhaps most famously, we find this continuous up a 4th movement in the jazz standard Autumn Leaves.
Co-written with Burt Bacharach for a film
Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do) is a tune written by Christopher Cross, whose music was once labeled under the slightly awkwardly named genre of Yacht Rock.
Writing Arthur’s Theme’s chords requires you to have some serious knowledge about key signatures and modes. It is perhaps no surprise that the man behind this is not just Christopher Cross alone, but also Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen.
Written for the movie Arthur which starred Dudley Moore and Liza Minelli. The song manages the almost impossible when it captures the emotion of the entire film.
Christopher Cross collected the “Big Four” at the Grammy Awards when he won 5 Awards for his debut album in 1981, including Best Record, Song, Album, and New Artist.
Only Norah Jones has managed this as a solo artist since.
Arthur’s Theme chords | Related pages
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Burt Bacharach
One of the most important composers of the last century, Burt Bacharach‘s tunes have been recorded by over 1000 artists.
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Burt Bacharach on the web
Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross wrote Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do) for the movie Arthur which starred Dudley Moore and Liza Minelli.
Managing the seemingly impossible, the song tells the story of the film in less than four minutes.
Christopher Cross on the web
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