Dance Through the Chords of the Timeless Tune “Singin’ in the Rain”

When I hear “Singin’ in the Rain,” the image that springs to mind is Gene Kelly’s rain-soaked dance in the iconic scene from the 1952 film of the same name. But the song itself dates back to the 1920s and has remained a beloved standard ever since.

Written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown, “Singin’ in the Rain” premiered on Broadway in The Hollywood Music Box Revue in 1929. That year, Cliff Edwards’ recording of the song topped the charts for 12 weeks, while versions by Earl Burtnett and Gus Arnheim also reached the Top Ten. Since then, it’s been recorded by countless artists and featured in numerous films and TV shows, cementing its place in popular culture.

As in Gene Kelly’s version, we start with the lighthearted intro over a classic I–vi–ii–V progression. In D major, those chords are D, Bm7, Em, and A7. The body of the song begins with D major, then moves through Dmaj7, D6, and back to Dmaj7. The next four bars start again on D, then shift to B7, Em, and A7. For the B7, I’m using the third (D#) and root (B) in the bass, creating an ascending chromatic line—D to D#—leading to the Em.

From there, it’s an Em to A7 pattern for six bars before resolving to D and setting up the repeat with a suspended V chord, A7sus4. In the video, I play through the song twice: first fingerstyle, then strummed with a flatpick. At the end, I repeat the “singin’ and dancin’ in the rain” tag with a B7 to set it up. Have fun singing and playing in the rain—and don’t forget to take off your shoes before coming back inside!