So, here we have a song that starts with the chorus but you don't really notice it. That's because it sounds like a verse!
It starts with the refrain line repeated twice, followed by two rhyming lines, for a total of eight bars. When the refrain lines come back afterwards, it sounds like the second verse is starting. It cuts off after the two repetitions of the line, though, and then the actual verse of the song ("As I look back/I can see me lost and searching" etc.) finally begins.
The contrast you get with this verse, however, feels more like the contrast you normally get from a bridge. That's attributable to the fact that the chorus that preceded it sounded like a verse, of course, but the whole thing strikes me as being super clever and, perhaps, very unique.
The other thing I really like about the structure is that the verse has two parts, with its twelve bars divided up as eight plus four. This exactly mirrors the way that the chorus, which is eight bars, is always followed by the extra four bars of the refrain lines being repeated twice afterward. These repeating twelves (all eight plus four) throughout the song makes for some really pretty symmetry.
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Camper Van Beethoven - "She Divines Water" (1988)
Almost four minutes long and completely viable as a strong album track, this song is nevertheless comprised of only two verses and a (lengthy) coda. The verses have two parts, the second in waltz time and with irregular groupings of bars, both elements echoed in the imagery of "feel the world spin slightly off axis."
Bob Dylan once said something to the effect of dreams being "the place where the bottom falls out from reality" and that is what happens here. At the end of verse number two, singer David Lowery starts telling about a dream but then never stops, the chords continuing to circle around and back. We begin to feel that power on the level of a planet going off its axis now, the dream suddenly including images of fortune-telling, playing cards, and then, by a master stroke, the operatic chorus that seems to be overseeing the cosmic event.
Bob Dylan once said something to the effect of dreams being "the place where the bottom falls out from reality" and that is what happens here. At the end of verse number two, singer David Lowery starts telling about a dream but then never stops, the chords continuing to circle around and back. We begin to feel that power on the level of a planet going off its axis now, the dream suddenly including images of fortune-telling, playing cards, and then, by a master stroke, the operatic chorus that seems to be overseeing the cosmic event.
Thursday, June 14, 2012
Al Stewart - "Year of the Cat" (1976)
The question arises as to how the contrasting major key sections function in this otherwise minor key, wistful song. These modulations are a big part of the expansiveness of this almost-seven minute composition, but the way they contribute to the tone and theme of the song may not be immediately apparent.
The main one is heard three times - in the intro, solo, and closing. Each time, there's clearly a sense of emotional contrast and it does seem to have depth and a real relevance to the story. It's as though we're not just hearing of these scenes from the protagonist's life, but, like the protagonist, being swept away by them a bit. The movement in these sections is not only a simple shift from the home key of E minor to G major, but quite breathlessly to E major only four bars later, only to be pulled away and back into the home minor key almost immediately. The parallel in the story, of course, is that the protagonist will stay with the woman, but only for a time.
The return to the minor key is a pull back into the passing of mythological time as depicted in this song. So close to the tick-tock pulse of 120 BPM, time in "Year of the Cat" is framed by sadness over the knowledge of its finite context - one year, perhaps - and draped ultimately in that wistful E minor key to which it returns.
The main one is heard three times - in the intro, solo, and closing. Each time, there's clearly a sense of emotional contrast and it does seem to have depth and a real relevance to the story. It's as though we're not just hearing of these scenes from the protagonist's life, but, like the protagonist, being swept away by them a bit. The movement in these sections is not only a simple shift from the home key of E minor to G major, but quite breathlessly to E major only four bars later, only to be pulled away and back into the home minor key almost immediately. The parallel in the story, of course, is that the protagonist will stay with the woman, but only for a time.
The return to the minor key is a pull back into the passing of mythological time as depicted in this song. So close to the tick-tock pulse of 120 BPM, time in "Year of the Cat" is framed by sadness over the knowledge of its finite context - one year, perhaps - and draped ultimately in that wistful E minor key to which it returns.
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Husker Du - "Makes No Sense at All" (1985)
I always sensed that there was something rich in this song's harmonies and finally figured them out. Take a look at the extended chords implied by the melody in the first phrase here.
The G sung over the F chord in the second bar makes for an added ninth harmony, while the same note over A minor in bars three and four gives that chord a minor seventh quality. In both cases, it's the tonic pitch accounting for the harmonic extension, and this centering around G anchors the song in its key while the chords (which are really more native to C major) are stewing about. The second part of the phrase is sung in harmony and the last two notes are on D, which is also not a part of that A minor chord but is, of course, the fifth of the "home harmony."
It's impossible to say what the contrasting section of this song is; its different set of chords give the impression of a bridge, but the part is heard with different words after both of the verses. (There is no chorus.) The more functional G major chord vocabulary here provides a sense of relief from the strange harmonic goulash of the verse, but the melody remains insistent with its extensions, emphasizing D as a major ninth over the C chord in measure three and as a minor seventh over the E minor chord in measure four.
The G sung over the F chord in the second bar makes for an added ninth harmony, while the same note over A minor in bars three and four gives that chord a minor seventh quality. In both cases, it's the tonic pitch accounting for the harmonic extension, and this centering around G anchors the song in its key while the chords (which are really more native to C major) are stewing about. The second part of the phrase is sung in harmony and the last two notes are on D, which is also not a part of that A minor chord but is, of course, the fifth of the "home harmony."
It's impossible to say what the contrasting section of this song is; its different set of chords give the impression of a bridge, but the part is heard with different words after both of the verses. (There is no chorus.) The more functional G major chord vocabulary here provides a sense of relief from the strange harmonic goulash of the verse, but the melody remains insistent with its extensions, emphasizing D as a major ninth over the C chord in measure three and as a minor seventh over the E minor chord in measure four.
Monday, March 19, 2012
The Shins - "Simple Song" (2012)
A couple of instances here of a songwriter going the extra mile. First, the chorus at the very end of the song, heard for the third time but now with new words introducing, quite surprisingly, a whole new temporal reference point to the first person narrative - a sad little personally revealing anecdote when one was not expected, left as a final impression before the song disappears.
Second, that little guitar solo that precedes the final chorus. At this point of the song, there's already been an instrumental break, but hey, let's have another one. It occurs over the buildup to the chorus, but the approach here is nuanced and subtle. We hadn't heard this buildup since the first chorus, when it was two bars long. Second chorus, it's not there at all. Third and final chorus, it's back with the guitar solo over the top and now extended to four bars to give things a kick, the guitar playing a lovely little variation on the melodic descent to the first chord of the chorus (heard originally on the keyboard). That's a classic rock move, big time, executed by somebody who knows.
Second, that little guitar solo that precedes the final chorus. At this point of the song, there's already been an instrumental break, but hey, let's have another one. It occurs over the buildup to the chorus, but the approach here is nuanced and subtle. We hadn't heard this buildup since the first chorus, when it was two bars long. Second chorus, it's not there at all. Third and final chorus, it's back with the guitar solo over the top and now extended to four bars to give things a kick, the guitar playing a lovely little variation on the melodic descent to the first chord of the chorus (heard originally on the keyboard). That's a classic rock move, big time, executed by somebody who knows.
Monday, March 5, 2012
The Monkees - "You and I" (1968)
Love how this track just blazes forward with its appealingly strange harmony.
As a matter of fact, the forward momentum begins immediately with the lead vocal coming in after an intro that's only two bars long. The verse is twelve bars and seems to be working up to a cadence in F# minor towards the end. Measure nine has a i chord, followed by a V chord in measure ten, and then back to the i chord for measure eleven. Here, everyone starts playing quarter note triplets, though, including a lead guitar with a repeating figure of C#-B-A. These three notes emphasize the five (C#) and the three (A) of the F# minor chord, but the bass moves down to E on the second set of triplets in the middle of that bar, giving a suggestion of a VII chord (E major). This E then holds for all of measure twelve, with the repeating lead guitar figure of C#-B-A continuing in a sort of raw, expressive counterpoint.
Though twelve bars long, the verse feels irregular, perhaps partly because of the way the chords cut off and end without the expected cadence, but certainly in great part because of the melodic structure and rhyming pattern on top. Lines one and two of the verse each take two bars and seem to set up a pattern where the listener is going to get the rhyming word in line four at the end of measure eight. Instead, lines three and four have an internal rhyme of their own that has nothing to do with the lines that preceded them. Over the last four bars, we get three more lines sung over the triplets that all rhyme with one another:
We've got more growing to do
Me and you
And the rest of them, too
It's these three rhyming lines at the end that really account for the sense of irregularity over the course of the verse's fairly regular time frame of twelve bars.
The song has two verses, an eight-bar bridge, a guitar solo over the verse chord progression, and then ends really quickly with a repeat of the first verse. As we saw above, the verse ends with a descent in the bass from the tonic F# to the seventh scale degree (E) in measures eleven and twelve. This being the last verse, the song then ends on a downbeat after the final bar, but instead of returning to the tonic, the musicians continue the descent down to a D chord. The D is played as a major seventh - quite clever given that a D major seventh chord contains all three notes (F#, A, and C#) of the tonic triad that we were expecting to hear.
As a matter of fact, the forward momentum begins immediately with the lead vocal coming in after an intro that's only two bars long. The verse is twelve bars and seems to be working up to a cadence in F# minor towards the end. Measure nine has a i chord, followed by a V chord in measure ten, and then back to the i chord for measure eleven. Here, everyone starts playing quarter note triplets, though, including a lead guitar with a repeating figure of C#-B-A. These three notes emphasize the five (C#) and the three (A) of the F# minor chord, but the bass moves down to E on the second set of triplets in the middle of that bar, giving a suggestion of a VII chord (E major). This E then holds for all of measure twelve, with the repeating lead guitar figure of C#-B-A continuing in a sort of raw, expressive counterpoint.
Though twelve bars long, the verse feels irregular, perhaps partly because of the way the chords cut off and end without the expected cadence, but certainly in great part because of the melodic structure and rhyming pattern on top. Lines one and two of the verse each take two bars and seem to set up a pattern where the listener is going to get the rhyming word in line four at the end of measure eight. Instead, lines three and four have an internal rhyme of their own that has nothing to do with the lines that preceded them. Over the last four bars, we get three more lines sung over the triplets that all rhyme with one another:
We've got more growing to do
Me and you
And the rest of them, too
It's these three rhyming lines at the end that really account for the sense of irregularity over the course of the verse's fairly regular time frame of twelve bars.
The song has two verses, an eight-bar bridge, a guitar solo over the verse chord progression, and then ends really quickly with a repeat of the first verse. As we saw above, the verse ends with a descent in the bass from the tonic F# to the seventh scale degree (E) in measures eleven and twelve. This being the last verse, the song then ends on a downbeat after the final bar, but instead of returning to the tonic, the musicians continue the descent down to a D chord. The D is played as a major seventh - quite clever given that a D major seventh chord contains all three notes (F#, A, and C#) of the tonic triad that we were expecting to hear.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
John Lennon - "I Know (I Know)" (1973)
This song goes to the chorus right away after the first verse. More unusual is the fact that the chorus then repeats! There's only been one verse, but we're hearing the chorus twice. It has different words the second time.
After that, there's another verse and then it seems to go to a bridge section ("Today I love you more than yesterday" etc.). A repeat of the chorus with a derivation on its first set of words follows, but then what? The bridge repeats here?
Looking back at this point, we can see how those three choruses with the different sets of words are actually functioning like verses in relation to the bridge, which frankly sounds kind of like a chorus itself and is indeed functioning like one now in the way that it's repeating.
This notion seems to be borne out by the fact that Lennon then proceeds to use a derivative of the first part of this bridge/chorus as a refrain line that repeats four times for the song's closing.
After that, there's another verse and then it seems to go to a bridge section ("Today I love you more than yesterday" etc.). A repeat of the chorus with a derivation on its first set of words follows, but then what? The bridge repeats here?
Looking back at this point, we can see how those three choruses with the different sets of words are actually functioning like verses in relation to the bridge, which frankly sounds kind of like a chorus itself and is indeed functioning like one now in the way that it's repeating.
This notion seems to be borne out by the fact that Lennon then proceeds to use a derivative of the first part of this bridge/chorus as a refrain line that repeats four times for the song's closing.
Friday, January 20, 2012
The Move - "Blackberry Way" (1969)
There's a chromatic chord movement in the second half of this song's verse that descends from the iii chord in G (B minor) to the ii chord (A minor) by way of the chord in between (A# minor). Of particular interest here is the melodic sequence of two descending thirds that's sung over the top. The melody starts on D, the third of the B minor chord, then moves down a third to the root, and then another third to the sixth (G). The chord then switches to A# minor and the melodic pattern is repeated: third (C#), root (A#), and sixth (F#). The melody then ends with the final note of the line back up at C natural, the third of A minor.
The only thing that might be considered unusual about this is the sixth, a nonchord tone appearing in what otherwise seems to be a triadic melody. Surely, one of the reasons it's used is that these notes are happening quickly and a bigger melodic jump from the root down to the chord tone, the fifth, would have been awkward. These sixths cannot be accounted for in terms of melodic analysis, though; they are not neighbor tones, escape tones, or passing tones. They are, seemingly, pure color, and their use here by composer Roy Wood is quite remarkable.
The only thing that might be considered unusual about this is the sixth, a nonchord tone appearing in what otherwise seems to be a triadic melody. Surely, one of the reasons it's used is that these notes are happening quickly and a bigger melodic jump from the root down to the chord tone, the fifth, would have been awkward. These sixths cannot be accounted for in terms of melodic analysis, though; they are not neighbor tones, escape tones, or passing tones. They are, seemingly, pure color, and their use here by composer Roy Wood is quite remarkable.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
The Seeds - "The Wind Blows Your Hair" (1967)
This song starts out moving back and forth between G minor and C minor chords for one measure each. The organ riff repeated (with variations) over these two chords very much feels like it resolves on the note C played over the C minor chord, so you have a strange situation where C minor is felt to be the key center but you're hearing the tonic chord in rhythmically weak bars (i.e., you don't hear the tonic in the first and third bars, but the second and fourth instead).
When they get to the end of the first verse, however, they play D as a dominant chord and resolve it to G minor (with the vocal melody resolving on G as well). Given that it's the end of the verse, this is a rest moment and organist Daryl Hooper momentarily leaves off on repeating the organ riff, picking it up again half way through when the chord change starts again and they move to C minor one measure later. Starting the riff here, in the middle, is a bit of acknowledgment that C minor is the key center for the verse (which is starting again), but there's this beautiful awkwardness to the fact that it begins in the middle and in a rhythmically weak bar.
In my experience, the tonality I'm describing here in the verse is a very unique situation. The key center is not really, technically, ambiguous; it's C minor, but they play on the fact that it's G minor that you're hearing in the rhythmically strong bars by resolving it there at the end.
The other unique feature of the verse is that the vocal melody takes up the melodic emphasis on Eb as an emphasized upper neighbor tone heard over the G minor chord. Every line of the verse starts on the G minor chord (strong bar) and ends on the C minor chord (weak bar), and every line starts on that non-chordal tone of Eb. This is done so casually, and so comfortably, that it honestly sounds a little like sprechstimme and the extremely clever harmonic aspect of what's going on here is easily glossed over.
Note: This entry refers to the wedding-themed version of this song, not the one labeled as "Reprise."
When they get to the end of the first verse, however, they play D as a dominant chord and resolve it to G minor (with the vocal melody resolving on G as well). Given that it's the end of the verse, this is a rest moment and organist Daryl Hooper momentarily leaves off on repeating the organ riff, picking it up again half way through when the chord change starts again and they move to C minor one measure later. Starting the riff here, in the middle, is a bit of acknowledgment that C minor is the key center for the verse (which is starting again), but there's this beautiful awkwardness to the fact that it begins in the middle and in a rhythmically weak bar.
In my experience, the tonality I'm describing here in the verse is a very unique situation. The key center is not really, technically, ambiguous; it's C minor, but they play on the fact that it's G minor that you're hearing in the rhythmically strong bars by resolving it there at the end.
The other unique feature of the verse is that the vocal melody takes up the melodic emphasis on Eb as an emphasized upper neighbor tone heard over the G minor chord. Every line of the verse starts on the G minor chord (strong bar) and ends on the C minor chord (weak bar), and every line starts on that non-chordal tone of Eb. This is done so casually, and so comfortably, that it honestly sounds a little like sprechstimme and the extremely clever harmonic aspect of what's going on here is easily glossed over.
Note: This entry refers to the wedding-themed version of this song, not the one labeled as "Reprise."
Thursday, December 15, 2011
NRBQ - "Things to You" (1977)
Try as I may, I can't seem to figure out the acoustic guitar chords underneath the gorgeous, and totally idiosyncratic, six-note piano solo in this song. It feels to me like there's some kind of harmonic sense to the thing, and although I can't quite get at what's going on, I'll at least lay out what I do know here.
The song is in twelve-eight and is based around an acoustic guitar strumming a C chord on the dotted quarter beats one and two of the measure and a C chord plus an added fourth on beats three and four. The bass plays a C on beats one and two and a G, the fifth, on beats three and four. The song is played slowly enough that the G in the bass on those last two beats doesn't really feel like a chordal tone of C; it's more like there's supposed to be a G chord there, but the guitarist is playing that C suspended chord instead. A little bit of harmonic ambiguity there, and we seem to get it again in the verse when the bass plays an F over what sounds like a D minor seventh chord in the guitar. (F is the third of D minor, obviously, but bass player Spampinato only plays F underneath that chord, as though it's a IV chord).
The piano solo starts with eight bars of the C-going-to-the-C-suspended-chord progression, but the solo melody is mostly repetitions of the note B on the dotted quarter beats. B is just the seventh tone of the scale, of course, and the emphasis on the note adds a major seventh harmonic feel, but it's happening in a place where you wouldn't expect it.* Not only that, but it's happening right on the beat, right along with the C and the F in the guitar and a continued discontinuity with the C and G in the bass.
Have to say, this feeling of three people just playing their own thing at the same time is a little Shaggsian! It also makes complete musical sense, though; the freedom in the bass and the major seventh harmony are...jazz, I guess.
And like I said at the outset, what happens next also feels like it makes sense somehow, but I can't figure it out. The B keeps repeating in the piano melody, but the harmony shifts. We seem to be hearing a B7 chord, under which the bass goes from F# to B (below) and to B (above). It then moves down for a chromatic descent of F to E to Eb, though, and as it hits that last note, the piano melody resolves from the repeating B down to G. With this, we seem to have some kind of Eb harmony (given Eb and G together), especially given the fact that it's followed by a D minor ii chord, perhaps suggesting that it's some type of chromatic upper neighbor.
I've got four questions about all of this. What function does the B7 chord have? What are those guitar chords we hear over the chromatic run in the bass (and how do they help explain the logic of the progression)? What is that chord the chromatic line lands on with the Eb and the G? And exactly how genius is it that Terry Adams devised this structure that supports a six-note diatonic melody that never strays from C major???
* Except from this group, maybe, anyway.
The song is in twelve-eight and is based around an acoustic guitar strumming a C chord on the dotted quarter beats one and two of the measure and a C chord plus an added fourth on beats three and four. The bass plays a C on beats one and two and a G, the fifth, on beats three and four. The song is played slowly enough that the G in the bass on those last two beats doesn't really feel like a chordal tone of C; it's more like there's supposed to be a G chord there, but the guitarist is playing that C suspended chord instead. A little bit of harmonic ambiguity there, and we seem to get it again in the verse when the bass plays an F over what sounds like a D minor seventh chord in the guitar. (F is the third of D minor, obviously, but bass player Spampinato only plays F underneath that chord, as though it's a IV chord).
The piano solo starts with eight bars of the C-going-to-the-C-suspended-chord progression, but the solo melody is mostly repetitions of the note B on the dotted quarter beats. B is just the seventh tone of the scale, of course, and the emphasis on the note adds a major seventh harmonic feel, but it's happening in a place where you wouldn't expect it.* Not only that, but it's happening right on the beat, right along with the C and the F in the guitar and a continued discontinuity with the C and G in the bass.
Have to say, this feeling of three people just playing their own thing at the same time is a little Shaggsian! It also makes complete musical sense, though; the freedom in the bass and the major seventh harmony are...jazz, I guess.
And like I said at the outset, what happens next also feels like it makes sense somehow, but I can't figure it out. The B keeps repeating in the piano melody, but the harmony shifts. We seem to be hearing a B7 chord, under which the bass goes from F# to B (below) and to B (above). It then moves down for a chromatic descent of F to E to Eb, though, and as it hits that last note, the piano melody resolves from the repeating B down to G. With this, we seem to have some kind of Eb harmony (given Eb and G together), especially given the fact that it's followed by a D minor ii chord, perhaps suggesting that it's some type of chromatic upper neighbor.
I've got four questions about all of this. What function does the B7 chord have? What are those guitar chords we hear over the chromatic run in the bass (and how do they help explain the logic of the progression)? What is that chord the chromatic line lands on with the Eb and the G? And exactly how genius is it that Terry Adams devised this structure that supports a six-note diatonic melody that never strays from C major???
* Except from this group, maybe, anyway.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
The Raspberries - "Overnight Sensation (Hit Record)" (1974)
So, you've got a song here in F that tonicizes both the dominant harmony of C (in the rocking part of the verse - "If the program director don't want it," etc.) and the subdominant harmony of Bb (on the title words "overnight sensation" that come at the very end of the verse). I'm not a piano player, but the solo piano line that occurs after Bb is tonicized seems to end on a bit of a bVII harmony. It's that Ab major harmony that functions the second time through as the pivot chord that leads to the key center of Db major for the bridge (Ab being the dominant of Db).
Here, though, is where the song does what is possibly my favorite thing. It's necessary to call the key center here C# instead of Db because the chords move from I (C#) to bVII (B). Now, of course, we just had bVII harmony eleven seconds earlier in a key (Bb) very remote from where we are now. There's an incredible continuity from this immediate repetition of the same harmonic vocabulary, but this moment is also rich in how it balances simple and complex elements. On the one hand, we've not only modulated (cleverly) to a remote key, but we're using unconventional chords once we get there. On the other hand, a I-bVII chord progression is actually an incredibly simple thing, and only unconventional in this context: a bridge where you'd think that we've just modulated a great distance and maybe we need to start thinking about getting back right away!
But they don't. Raspberries drag it out so sweetly with this chord, giving Carmen the time frame ("Amazing how success has been ignoring me so lo-o-o-o-ong") to state his plight.
Here, though, is where the song does what is possibly my favorite thing. It's necessary to call the key center here C# instead of Db because the chords move from I (C#) to bVII (B). Now, of course, we just had bVII harmony eleven seconds earlier in a key (Bb) very remote from where we are now. There's an incredible continuity from this immediate repetition of the same harmonic vocabulary, but this moment is also rich in how it balances simple and complex elements. On the one hand, we've not only modulated (cleverly) to a remote key, but we're using unconventional chords once we get there. On the other hand, a I-bVII chord progression is actually an incredibly simple thing, and only unconventional in this context: a bridge where you'd think that we've just modulated a great distance and maybe we need to start thinking about getting back right away!
But they don't. Raspberries drag it out so sweetly with this chord, giving Carmen the time frame ("Amazing how success has been ignoring me so lo-o-o-o-ong") to state his plight.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Peter, Bjorn and John - "Young Folks" (2006)
The melody of this song is fairly ingenious. The chord progression for the verse is F, D minor, C, A minor, and then the second time through it just skips the C chord and goes straight to A minor. A minor is the key, and the melody sticks to A minor pentatonic throughout, but the relationship of the notes to the chords is very unusual.
Over the first F major chord, the melody starts on D and moves down to its lower neighbor, C (the fifth, and a chordal tone). The D, of course, is the upper neighbor of the chordal tone, but it's really emphasized as the first note of the melody and seems to color the chord as an added sixth.
Over the D minor chord, we continue moving around the pentatonic scale, first down to A and then back up to C. Once again, the root of the chord has not been voiced and there is some emphasis on a non-chordal tone (the C). Continuing with pentatonic step-wise motion, the melody then moves back down to A as the first note over the C major chord. A moves down to G and here we have an exact repeat of the note sequence (the sixth of the chord moving to the fifth) that was heard over the F chord previously. Once again, there is a sense of added sixth harmony.
The melody then finishes its descent on E, sung (or whistled*) over the A minor chord. Once again, the root of the chord has not been voiced.
Second time through the chord progression, we start one note higher, on E. Nice octave jump up from the lower E, and voiced over the F major chord, we now have major seventh harmony (again, all accomplished with A minor pentatonic notes). The shortened melody for the consequent lyric line that finishes this part of the verse then concludes by pentatonic step-wise descent to C and then A over the D minor chord (the seventh to the fifth), and then staying on that A to finally have a rooted note, on the very last note of the melody, over the tonic A minor chord.
* :D
Over the first F major chord, the melody starts on D and moves down to its lower neighbor, C (the fifth, and a chordal tone). The D, of course, is the upper neighbor of the chordal tone, but it's really emphasized as the first note of the melody and seems to color the chord as an added sixth.
Over the D minor chord, we continue moving around the pentatonic scale, first down to A and then back up to C. Once again, the root of the chord has not been voiced and there is some emphasis on a non-chordal tone (the C). Continuing with pentatonic step-wise motion, the melody then moves back down to A as the first note over the C major chord. A moves down to G and here we have an exact repeat of the note sequence (the sixth of the chord moving to the fifth) that was heard over the F chord previously. Once again, there is a sense of added sixth harmony.
The melody then finishes its descent on E, sung (or whistled*) over the A minor chord. Once again, the root of the chord has not been voiced.
Second time through the chord progression, we start one note higher, on E. Nice octave jump up from the lower E, and voiced over the F major chord, we now have major seventh harmony (again, all accomplished with A minor pentatonic notes). The shortened melody for the consequent lyric line that finishes this part of the verse then concludes by pentatonic step-wise descent to C and then A over the D minor chord (the seventh to the fifth), and then staying on that A to finally have a rooted note, on the very last note of the melody, over the tonic A minor chord.
* :D
Friday, September 9, 2011
Hanson - "MMMBop" (1997)
So, there are six verses in this song but none of them have the same structure. I guess it's the old soul music method of using lyrical text to vamp over a chord pattern and take the song in different directions; what's shocking about this song is how much these kids do it from beginning to end, though, and how brilliantly they pull it off throughout.
First two verses have four lines of text happening in four bars, and then four bars more in which to vamp on the last line. The second verse not only has a different, rising melodic part in the last two lines but also a delightful rhythmic delay that carries the last line further as part of the surge toward the chorus. Vocal harmonies add to the intensity.
The third verse adds four measures of vibing ("Said 'Oh, yeah'/In an mmmbop, you're gone") as a little buildup before it even starts, distancing it a little bit from the potency of the chorus that precedes it. Amazingly, what they do then is push the envelope of the second verse even further by starting the melodic rise earlier, this time on the second line. When this, in turn, pushes the third line even higher than it had been in the second verse, we're into some real Jackson Five territory.
Verses four and five replicate the pattern of one and two, with the second verse ramped up higher than the first. This time, though, it's all vamping on refrain lines until, in the extended fifth verse, Isaac Hanson takes over on the lead vocal part - just like Jermaine used to do!
First two verses have four lines of text happening in four bars, and then four bars more in which to vamp on the last line. The second verse not only has a different, rising melodic part in the last two lines but also a delightful rhythmic delay that carries the last line further as part of the surge toward the chorus. Vocal harmonies add to the intensity.
The third verse adds four measures of vibing ("Said 'Oh, yeah'/In an mmmbop, you're gone") as a little buildup before it even starts, distancing it a little bit from the potency of the chorus that precedes it. Amazingly, what they do then is push the envelope of the second verse even further by starting the melodic rise earlier, this time on the second line. When this, in turn, pushes the third line even higher than it had been in the second verse, we're into some real Jackson Five territory.
Verses four and five replicate the pattern of one and two, with the second verse ramped up higher than the first. This time, though, it's all vamping on refrain lines until, in the extended fifth verse, Isaac Hanson takes over on the lead vocal part - just like Jermaine used to do!
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The Beatles - "She Loves You" (1963)
John Lennon sings a A on the line "She loves you and you know you should be glad." For a long time, I've assumed that this line is sung over a borrowed iv chord (C minor). In lieu of video footage possibly showing what the guitarists were playing, let's look at the possibilities for what's happening here:
1) Lennon is actually playing some voicing of an A half-diminished chord on the guitar during this line. If so, where might the idea of a half-diminished chord built on the supertonic, and used as a dominant prep chord, have come from?
2) Lennon is, in fact, playing a C minor chord, in which case the Beatles probably did not realize he was singing a non-chordal tone and this seemingly unique (?) harmonic phenomenon came about as a result.
1) Lennon is actually playing some voicing of an A half-diminished chord on the guitar during this line. If so, where might the idea of a half-diminished chord built on the supertonic, and used as a dominant prep chord, have come from?
2) Lennon is, in fact, playing a C minor chord, in which case the Beatles probably did not realize he was singing a non-chordal tone and this seemingly unique (?) harmonic phenomenon came about as a result.
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.
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.
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