Wednesday, June 29, 2011

George Harrison - "If You Believe" (1979)

Wanted to point out a metric irregularity in this song. The chorus is a total of twelve bars long, consisting of one six-bar phrase that repeats. While the song is otherwise in four-four time, the third bar of this phrase is six beats long. The whole chorus looks like this:

Measures 1 and 2 - I chord
Measure 3 - I7 chord (3 beats)/IV chord (3 beats)
Measure 4 - IV chord
Measure 5 - iv chord (minor)
Measure 6 - V chord
Measures 7 and 8 - I chord
Measure 9 - I7 chord (3 beats)/IV chord (3 beats)
Measure 10 - IV chord
Measure 11 - iv chord (minor)
Measure 12 - V chord

The melody and cadence of the words both scan over this chord structure in a very fluid way in spite of both the metric irregularity and the seemingly consequent decision not to attempt to create rhymes with the words.

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Edison Lighthouse - "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" (1970)

Just found an unusual note here. The first part of the refrain line where you hear the title words is over a chord progression of I-iii-vi-I. The melody starts on the fifth scale degree for that first I chord, but then climbs up to the sixth degree (on the word "grows") for the iii chord.

That's, of course, a non-chordal tone, but it's not really used as a passing tone. (It's the emphasized note for that chord.) Sure sounds awfully natural and right.