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Arthur’s Theme chords by Christopher Cross

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Arthur’s Theme | Chords + Lyrics

Intro

| Dm7 G | C Fmaj13 |
| Bb E7 | Asus4 A Asus2 A |

Verse 1

Chorus 1

Verse 2

Arthur he does as he pleases, all of his life, he’s mastered choice.
Deep in his heart, he’s just, he’s just a boy.
Living his life one day at a time and showing himself a really good time,
laughing about the way they want him to be.

Chorus 2

When you get caught between the moon and New York City.
I know it’s crazy, but it’s true.
If you get caught between the moon and New York City.
The best that you can do, the best that you can do, is fall in love.

Solo

||: Dm7 G | C Fmaj13 |
| Bb E7 | Asus4 A Asus2 A :||

Chorus 3

When you get caught between the moon and New York City.
I know it’s crazy, but it’s true.
If you get caught between the moon and New York City.
| Bm (Bsus2) | Bm (Bsus2) |
The best that you can do, the best that you can do, is fall in love.

Chorus 4 (as chorus 1)

Arthur’s Theme Chords: Learn the 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:

Starting on the II chord of C major, we move II – V – I – IV. Translated to the chords of C major this reads:

| Dm7 (II) G (V) | C (I) Fmaj13 (IV) |

Playing this on just one guitar, imitating that piano part took me a while to work out, here’s a link to the TAB lesson demonstrating exactly how: Arthur’s Theme – Guitar Lesson with TAB.

Next, 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 a #4th.

This final E chord is what takes us to that A major chord.

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 repeat the verse and go back to Dm, the cycle is complete. Here are all of Artur’s Theme’s verse chords):

||: Dm7 (II) G (V) | C (I) Fmaj13 (IV) |
| Bb (bVIIx) E7 (IIIx) | Asus4 (VI) A Asus2 A :||

On my top 10 chord progression list, we find this movement at #10 as a VI – II, at #4 as the II – V, and at #1 as the 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.

Arthur’s Theme chorus chords stay in the key of A and go to chord IV. We know this as the chord is a Dmaj7#11, only chord IV has a #11.

Here is the full chorus progression:

| Dmaj7 (IV) (Dmaj7#11) | A (I) |
| (Bsus2) (II) Bm Bsus2 |1. Asus2 C#m7 (III) :||2. Asus2 A |

Having digested my TAB, a simple chord chart is all you need as you play this huge tune on just one little acoustic guitar.

Arthur’s Theme Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro

Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Arthur’s Theme Chord Chart PDF.

This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Arthur’s Theme iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.

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 labelled 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.

Composed 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

Arthur’s Theme | Guitar Lesson + TAB

In this guitar lesson, you get TAB for how to play both sections of Arthur’s Theme, arranged for one acoustic guitar + the solo.

| Dm7 G | C Fmaj13 |
Once in your life you find her, someone that turns your heart around…

Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics

When you can play Arthur's Theme's chords, try these five tunes from the song book.

Burt Bacharach tunes

One of the most important composers of the last century, Burt Bacharach‘s tunes have been recorded by over 1000 artists.

Unforgettable hits include Close To You, Walk On By, Arthur’s Theme, That’s What Friends Are For, What The World Needs Now, and I Say A Little Prayer.

Burt Bacharach on the web

Christopher Cross tunes

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

About me | Dan Lundholm

Dan Lundholm wrote this guitar lesson about Arthur's Theme's chords.

This was a guitar lesson about Arthur’s Theme chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.

Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.