In bars one and two, the sequence Dmi7-G7 is repeated twice. This is a ii-V sequence in the key of C major, so you can improvise using the notes of the C Major scale throughout these bars.
In bars three and four, the sequence Gmi7-C7 is repeated in each bar. This is a ii-V sequence in the key of F major, so you can improvise using the notes of the F Major scale throughout these bars. Notice that the F Major scale flats the seventh pitch of the C Major scale which is lowered to Bb.
In bars five and six, the sequence is F7-BbMA7 which is a V-I sequence in the key of Bb Major. Throughout these bars you can improvise ideas that use the notes of the Bb Major scale. The Bb Major scale flats the seventh pitch of F Major, which is E, and lowers it to Eb.
A curious thing happens in bar seven of the A sections. This chord in the first halves of these bars is Db7 which is apparently a great distance away from Bb MA7. If you started at Db7 and constructed a chain of 7th chords to move step by step to BbMA7 like we did in the first six bars, we would derive the sequence Db7, Gb7, B7, E7, A7, D7, G7, C7, F7, BbMA7. This chain covers æ of the entire 12 chord chain of 7th chords whose roots are built on the cycle of descending perfect fifths. Such long 7th chord chains are almost never used in popular songs. The wild thing that happens instead in Lover Man is that in the second half of bar 7 we travel immediately to C7, skipping six chords from the cycle of fifths.
If you compare the sound of Db7-C7, two seventh chord descending by a half step, with the sound of G7-C7, two seventh chords descending by a perfect 5th, youíll discover that the two sequences have a great resemblance to one another.
It has been well known for a number of decades that in a sequence of dominant 7th chords you can substitute for any of the 7th chords a 7th chord whose root is an augmented 4th distance away from the original root and still preserve most of the musical effect of the original sequence.
So the sequence that starts in bar 7, Db7-C7, is a disguised way to jump back part of the way in the cycle that was used in bars 1 through 6. Itís equivalent to jumping back to G7 in that sequence and then cycling forward.
From the pattern that was used in bars 1 through 6, we would expect the progression to cycle forward again till the MA7 chord is reached when the Bb root is reached. The surprising development that occurs in bar 8, is that FMA7 is used which causes the cycle to conclude one step earlier than before. Weíve discovered that FMA7 is the intended goal even though an attempt has been made to fake us out into believing momentarily that BbMA7 was the goal. This new usage makes us change our opinion about the meaning of the BbMA7 in bar 6. In the new context we have to call that chord a IVMA7 that resolves back to FMA7, the IMA7 of the entire sequence.
Itís perhaps appropriate that we wander about getting confused about the final resting point in this chord progression, since the lament in the lyric of this tune is ìLover Man, oh where can you beî.
In the second half of bar 8 during the first repeat, A7 is used as a turnaround to lead back to sequence of the 1st bar of the A section again. This works because the root of A7 is a perfect 5th above the root of the Dmi7 chord that begins the A section.
The first four bars of the B section, use a a ii-V-I sequence in the key of G, Ami7-D7-GMA7, meaning that the notes of the G major scale can be used for improvising over these four bars.
Bars 5 through 7 use a ii-V-I in the key of F, Gmi7-C7-FMA7. Bar 8 needs to somehow cycle back to begin the last repeat of the A section. The problem here is that we apparently reached our goal chord FMA7, in bar 7 of the B section, rather than in bar 8 as we did in the A sections of the tune. It ends up that the composer wanted to use A7 as the last chord of the B section to lead back to the Dmi7, analogous to how he ended the first repeat of A. In this case he uses Emi7(b5), the half diminished chord built on the seventh scale step of the F major scale. This leads directly into the following A7. Using the subsequence Emi7(b5)-A7-Dmi7 to restart the last A section, outlines a minor ii-V-I in the key of Dmi7 to give us a brief and temporary minor feeling during this turnaround.
I think this explains everything that happens harmonically during the tune. I will concoct MIDI sequences to illustrate the harmonic subsequences discussed above, later today after I get some sleep.
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