Secondary Augmented 6th chords-No Greater Love

Another example of a secondary augmented 6th chord can be found in the jazz tune “There is No Greater Love” by Ishram Jones and Marty Symes in 1936. A chords only version of this song is shown below.

We will look at mm. 1-8 specifically, but note that this same progression appears (with a little variation) in mm. 9-16 and 25-31.

We can analyze most of these chords already (see below). The chord in m. 3 is one that we have seen already but not in this context.

The chord in m. 3 – a dominant 7th chord with a lowered 5 (7b5) we have analyzed before as a French 6 chord. In this case the chord would be spelled Bb-D-Fb-Ab. Spelled as a French it would be Bb-D-E-G#.

As shown above, this French 6 chord would normally resolve to an A chord – which it does in m. 4 of the piece below.

However, A is not a V or a I in the key of C major, the key of the piece. It is actually acting as a V of D or ii in the piece. Therefore, we would analyze this French 6 as a Fr6/ii – a secondary augmented 6th chord – to show its true function as shown below.

Summary

In summary, a secondary augmented 6 chord is an augmented 6th chord that appears on a note other than the note a half-step above dominant or tonic. It is marked as an augmented 6th of (/) that chord it resolves to or, as in the above, in the key it functions.