Chapter 2

Question 1

Why is the ‘Three-Chord Trick’: the very foundation of Western popular music from blues and rock ‘n’ roll to punk and heavy metal?

Answer 1

Despite the seemingly limited musical boundaries of three major triads, the I, IV and V chords allow songwriters a full range of permutations for the very strongest of voice-leading as well as the most powerful root movements in music – fourths and fifths.

Question 2

‘In Spite Of All The Danger’ illustrates how the band began composing within the confines of I, IV and V, grasping the simple functions of each of these elements. It uses these three chords in the key of E, E is the I chord, A is the IV and (the no-longer-elusive) B7 is the V7 chord.

Answer 2

In Spite of All The Danger
Bar 1
/ E / B7 / E /
in spite the danger

Bar 2             Bar 3           Bar 4    Bar 5 /       E         /          E        /      E7    /      A      /     in spite      may be      anything  want me

   Bar 6                 Bar7                    Bar 8 /       B7         /        E            A        /         E    / be true to            me
     V7                  I             IV                  I

Question 3

How does the song In Spite Of All The Danger illustrate how the Three-Chord Trick fulfils the important principles of most tonal music?

Answer 3

First, the need for movement away from the tonic I chord to create a sense of harmonic development. The IV chord, or subdominant, is built on the fourth degree of the major scale and represents a typical destination for the song to progress to before making its way back to I. The progress to the IV chord can be direct from the tonic, as in the case of bar 5 here – or indeed any typical blues.

Question 4

How does the song In Spite Of All The Danger illustrate how the Three-Chord Trick fulfils the important principles of most tonal music?

Answer 4

Second, the blues creates a climax, a point of maximum tension which is then resolved, or ‘un-wound’, by means of a resolution back to the tonic, completing a sense of returning home after the journey. As we know this is a role typically played by the V chord (as here), with the B7 in bar 8 being followed by E. But as well as the ‘perfect’ V-I move, we can also see an alternative resolution, IV-I (albeit only as a brief turnaround gesture in bar 7), an important move found in many different contexts,

Question 5

The first thing to notice is the presence of a flattened seventh on all the triads – not just the V as we would expect from major scale theory. This is characteristic of the blues (and many other Three-Chord Tricks, even if they do necessarily have an intrinsically bluesy flavour). The purpose of the flat 7 in each chord here is to complement the blues-based melodies whose chief source is the minor pentatonic scale that consists of the tones 1-flat 3-4-5-flat 7. The presence of the flat 7 in the I and IV chords is the first such exception to ‘the rules’ of major scale harmony. The tonic minor pentatonic scale can also be seen to contain the flat 7 of each of the I, IV and V chords, thereby explaining their presence in terms of a self-contained ‘blues theory’.

Answer 5

For You Blue
Bar 1 Bar 2 Bar 3 Bar 4
/ D7 / G7 / D7 / D7 /
sweet and lovely girl I love you

   Bar 5          Bar 6        Bar 7      Bar 8 /        G7       /       G7     /     D7    /      D7     / sweet and lovely girl    its true   

   Bar 9          Bar 10      Bar 11      Bar 12 /        A7       /       G7     /     D7    /      A7     / love you       girl I do
      V7               IV7            I7            V7

Question 6

It is mainly as a result of the influence of Afro-American blues, which adopts this scale wholeheartedly, that popular music is so difficult to pigeonhole in terms of Western diatonic theory. The presence of the 7 in the I and IV chords is the first such exception to ‘the rules’ of major scale harmony. Watch how, in ‘For You Blue’ the tonic minor pentatonic scale can also be seen to contain the 7 of each of the I, IV and V chords, thereby explaining their presence in terms of a self-contained ‘blues theory’.

Answer 6

minor pentatonic
scale formula 1 63 4 5 67

D Minor
Pentatonic D F G A C

Chord tones in
a bluesy 67 of 67 of 67
I-IV-V G7 A7 of D7
(IV7) (V7) (I7)

Question 7

Can the rules of 12 bar blues be broken?

Answer 7

Certainly, the rules of the 12-bar format where I, IV and V appear in certain prescribed sequences have always been broken. Songs of 8-, 11-, 13-, 16- and 24-bar sequences were regularly being explored by Delta bluesman as far back as Robert Johnson, Charlie Patton and Son House.

Question 8

In music, an eight-bar blues is a common blues chord progression. Music writers have described it as “the second most common blues form”

Answer 8

“Worried Life Blues”

      1                 2               3              4 /         I	   /         I	       /     IV	/     IV       / lordy lord   lordy lord   hurts for us to part

     5                6                 7                 /        I	  /        V	     /         I    /        someday  worry life   anymore

        8 /  IV	    I     V    / turnaround

Question 9

In music, an eight-bar blues is a common blues chord progression. Music writers have described it as “the second most common blues form”

Answer 9

“Slow Down”

     1               2                  3             4 /       I7        /    V7          /    IV7     /   IV7       / slow down slow down  let me    on board

     5                         6                    7         8     /       I7               /	   V7	            /    I7   /   V7 / ride your train  before you go

Question 10

The power of I – the one-chord trick

Answer 10

Songs do not necessarily have to revolve around even as many as three chords to create interest. ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, the closing track on Revolver and sometimes regarded as The Beatles’ most progressive outing, is paradoxically structured around a single, simply embellished G chord, around which hypnotic modal melodies work their textural magic.

Question 11

The power of I – the one-chord trick

Answer 11

While harmonic stability is a strong tradition of Indian music like in Tomorrow Never Knows’, the same is also true of blues and rock ‘n’ roll. Indeed, the effect of a single chord throughout a song is an old blues tradition dating back at least as far as Charlie Patton’s 1929 recordings; while such droning blues harmony can still be heard in the ‘crossover’ blues sounds of R.L. Burnside.

Question 12

The power of I – the one-chord trick

Answer 12

The British rock scene of the sixties was perhaps most directly introduced to this harmonically static sound through bands like the Yardbirds, with their renditions of songs like Willie Dixon’s ‘Smokestack Lightning’, featuring a repeated riff in E.

Question 13

The power of I – the one-chord trick
And while one-chord songs are exceptions in pop music, many three-chord songs also make the important premise of establishing a prolonged tonic.

Answer 13

As McCartney remembers, one of the perennial Cavern crowd-pleasers was The Beatles’ cover of ‘Searchin”, a Three-Chord Trick, but one that hangs on the I chord for what seems like an eternity, as if stubbornly intent on going nowhere. Just listen to The Beatles’ version on Anthology 1 which, like the Coasters’ original, hangs on the tonic A chord for 16 bars before finally giving way to a IV chord.

Question 14

The power of I – the one-chord trick
That’s not to say that such ‘harmonically challenged’ songs have no ability to arouse interest. Indeed, such a device can be used effectively to create precisely this false sense of security. Take such influential early skiffle numbers as ‘Rock Island Line’, one of John Lennon’s earliest influences.

Answer 14

the revolutionary sixties version saw Lonnie Donegan strumming a lone G chord – unaccompanied for over a minute – before picking up steam and exploding into life with D and C chords. Such songs were perhaps unusual influences for The Beatles, whose original songwriting would soon be defined by relentless harmonic movement. Yet, as a principle to exploit in a pop song, an extended I chord would even find its way into several Beatles songs.

Question 15

Yet, as a principle to exploit in a pop song, an extended I chord would even find its way into several Beatles songs.
The power of I – the one-chord trick

Answer 15

in the context of a more conventional pop song, ‘Paperback Writer’ can clearly be seen to be built essentially around a similarly prolonged, scene-setting I chord that only makes a brief excursion to IV after a full 8 bars.

Question 16

The power of I – the one-chord trick
Several other Beatles songs in a harder, blues-rock vein display this same, similarly stubborn, opening emphasis.

Answer 16

‘Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey’, for example, features a ten-bar, driving E tonality for both a four-bar intro and the first six bars of the verse.

Question 17

The power of I – the one-chord trick
‘Ticket To Ride’ is most certainly not a Three Chord Trick, but this same ten-bar establishment of the tonic occurs here too.

Answer 17

This time a fourbar intro on A major is followed by another six bars in the verse before the first harmonic change. In terms of subtle semantics, it’s no accident that the lyrics “going away” prompts the shift from our stable tonic ‘home’.

Question 18

The above examples are intended to familiarise the reader with the idea of establishing a tonal centre in a pop song and showing how a sense of anticipation is built up for the first impending chord change. The Beatles’ sense of harmony may, for once, be taking a back seat here, but the static premise nevertheless provides a backdrop for other musical highlights – in the case of ‘Ticket To Ride’, the guitar motif that lends interest by adding a 9th ‘colour’ tone, not forgetting the song’s famous lilting, syncopated drum beat.

Answer 18

/ A / A / A / A /
I
I

/ A / A / A / A /
think be sad its today yeah the
I

/ A / A / Bm / E / girl me mad going away
I

/ F#m / D7 / F#m / Gm7 /
ticket to ride ticket to ride

/ F#m / E / A / A /
ticket to ride she dont care

Question 19

What are colour tones and how are they used to dress up the I chord?

Answer 19

On the subject of ‘colour’ tones, the I triad, just like the V chord in the last chapter) can be dressed up in a variety of ways beyond the extension of the flattened 7th in a blues context. And The Beatles experimented liberally with everything from major 6ths, 7ths and 9ths, through to 6/9s, 7#9s, ‘11ths’ as well as ‘sus’ and ‘add’ chords, to vary the quality of the major I chord.

Question 20

What is The Chuck Berry rhythm?

Answer 20

the rock ‘n’ roll guitar pattern popularised most famously by Chuck Berry. This involves first reducing each of the I, IV and V triads to a two-note diad consisting of a basic root-and-fifth perfect interval, omitting the third degree altogether. From there, a brief extension from the fifth to the sixth degree (and sometimes on to 7) can be made. This was standard R’n’B guitar practice in the early fifties and can be heard on early Beatles covers.

Question 21

How is the G5 used in Yesterday?

Answer 21

fuller ‘5’ chords whereby the root and fifth (without the extra embellishments) are doubled in higher octaves in open positions on the guitar. This structure would create an important sound in rock, most notably in the chord shapes of Pete Townshend. It is also responsible for the droning, modal sounds in several Beatles ballads. Listen to the start of ‘Yesterday’ to sample McCartney’s ‘no thirds’ G5 shape

Question 22

fuller ‘5’ chords whereby the root and fifth (without the extra embellishments) are doubled in higher octaves in open positions on the guitar. This structure would create an important sound in rock,

Answer 22

Similarly the D-shaped equivalent on the guitar would create an important folk-sound on Beatles songs like ‘You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away’, ‘Norwegian Wood’, ‘If I Needed Someone’

Question 23

What is another name for The IV chord?

Answer 23

As we have already established with I and V, chords make their appearance according to different functions. The IV chord (known as the subdominant as it is
the chord a whole step below the dominant in a harmonised scale) is no different. The IV may be almost omnipresent in pop songs but has varying roles,

Question 24

IV-I and the Plagal cadence. For all the power of root movement in fifths, and the inexorable pull of the dominant chord’s leading note into the tonic, The Beatles appreciated that the predictable ‘Perfect’ V-I cadence was not the only way to achieve a satisfactory resolution for their chord progressions.

Answer 24

Right from the early days they used the more relaxed IV chord to ring the changes. Compare the chorus and ending resolutions in both ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ and ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ to see how an intervening IV chord can create a memorable twist on the V-I cadence.

Question 25

What are the mechanics of a IV-I move ?

Answer 25

As well as root movement that descends by a perfect fourth, the Plagal cadence features ‘6–5’ and ‘4–3’ inner voice movement, formulae that merely reflect
the whole- and half-step descents into the 5th and the 3rd of the tonic, respectively, as the chords shift.

Question 26

While references to ‘IV-I’ and ‘descending fourths’ will often be used for practical purposes to describe this type of chord change, the Plagal effect doesn’t necessarily hinge on root movement,

Answer 26

as shown clearly by the languid intro vamp of ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’. Listen to how a tonic A major chord (I) gets ‘Plagalised’ by a partial D shape (IV) but over an unchanging A bass. The harmonic focus is thus on the ‘4–3’ and ‘6–5’ effect, without the root descent of a fourth.

Question 27

How does ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ use the IV chord to create a twist on the V-I resolution at the end of the song?

Answer 27

Chorus resolution E7 B7 E7
saw her stand ing there—–
V Perfect I
Ending
E7 E7 B7 A7 E7
saw her stand ing there—–
V IV Plagal I

Question 28

How does the chorus resolution in ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ demonstrate the perfect cadence?

Answer 28

Chorus Resolution
C D G
I want to hold your hand
V Perfect I

Question 29

Voice leading in the Plagal cadence
Here is a summary of the action in a IV-I change (in the key of C), highlighting the important ‘inner’ voice leading.
Notice how the root movement of a descending fourth (from F down to C) creates a more discreet resolution than the wider fifth, while the presence of the unchanging tonic C note (already within the IV chord itself) establishes a sense of security by acting as a constant ‘internal pedal’. Middleton explains that because IV-I moves travel less ‘distance’, they can be thought of as ‘less tense’ than V-I moves.

Answer 29

Voice leading in the Plagal cadence in C
Tension Resolution
F (IV) Note Voice Leading Note C(I)
root F down halfstep E 3rd
5th C common tone C root
3rd A down wholestep G 5th
root F down perfect 4th C root

This feature also helps explain the IV-I move’s characteristic soulful ambiguity that The Beatles exploited for subtle semantic effect as far back as the early ballads. For example, the repeated A-E moves in ‘All I’ve Got To Do’ gently convey John’s open-ended pleading: ‘you just got to call on me’

Question 30

What are the roots of the Plagal cadence in blues, gospel and pop?

Answer 30

They appear to have been in church hymns where the familiar ‘Amen’ sound almost singlehandedly helps to define the genre.

Question 31

How do Beatles songs like ‘Let it Be’ evoke their quasi-religious flavour?

Answer 31

C G F C
S peaking wisdom let it be—- IV I IV I
Plagal
Voice Leading
F to E
‘Let It Be’–while featuring the V chord within the song, never actually cadences V-I at any time, making the Plagal cadence entirely responsible for its hymnlike mood.

Question 32

How do Beatles songs like ‘Yesterday’ evoke their quasi-religious flavour?

Answer 32

F/E Dm G7 Bb F F
oh I believe in yesterday
IV——I
Plagal
‘Yesterday’ features a V-I a couple of bars earlier, but the Plagal move is intrinsic to the song’s melancholy resolution.

Question 33

How do Beatles songs like ‘The End’ evoke their quasi-religious flavour?

Answer 33

The End
Voice Leading
F to E
C D/C E6 F C
Ah
IV———–I
Plagal
In each of these examples, the melody resolves from a variety of different chord tones within the IV chord as it gives way to the tonic. ‘The End’ is perhaps the best example to use, as the ‘Plagal-defining’ voice leading into the 3rd of the tonic is so clearly heard in the upper harmony.

Question 34

The IV major-to-iv minor Plagal variation
A favourite Beatles manoeuvre gleaned from a strong songwriting tradition was to play a IV chord – but switch it from a major to a minor triad before returning to I. The same root movement applies but now the progression is F-Fm-C. This idea dates back most famously to Cole Porter’s classic ‘Everytime We Say Goodbye’, where this hybrid cadence is even cued by what immortal line?

Answer 34

E6 E6dim A6m6 B67
theres no love song fin - ner

            E67           A6         A6m              but how strange  change major to minor
                              IV  -------  iv--------
  E6              C7
  every       time we say goodbye ------I

Question 35

The IV major-to-iv minor Plagal variation. What is the voice leading in Cole Porters Every Time We Say Goodbye?

Answer 35

Again, the beauty of this move is in the voice-leading that creates a consecutive three-semitone descent as the major 3rd of Porter’s IV chord drops to a minor 3rd and, from there, to the 5th of the I chord.

Question 36

The ultimate example in which to hear the IV major-to-iv minor move is undoubtedly The Beatles’ cover of ‘Devil In Her Heart’ where the melody spectacularly mirrors the harmonic activity

Answer 36

Devil in Her Heart

                 chances  romance  important formula               IV              iv                 I chords in G         C              Cm              G voice leading       E               E6              D G scale decent     6              flat 6          5

Question 37

While the ballad tradition of the fifties usually reserved the IV major-to-iv minor move for the bridge, The Beatles showed how it could spice up any IV-I move. Whether it was the pure pop of ‘Hold Me Tight’ or the ‘power ballad’ meanderings of ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’, here is another formula that appears on virtually every Beatles album.

Answer 37

IV-iv Changes
song Section Lyric
i call your name verse I cant go
IV-iv change A-Am on

If I fell bridge stand the
IV-iv change G-Gm pain and I

in my life verse all my life
IV-iv change D-Dm though some
have changed

you wont see me verse that was so
IV-iv change D-Dm hard to find

LSD verse boat on a
IV-iv change D-Dm river

mother natures son verse songs for
IV-iv change D- Dm7 everyone

blackbird verse all your
IV-iv change C-Cm life

Question 38

‘In My Life’ makes particularly good early use of the IV major-to-iv minor move establishing a reflective feel consistent with the theme of the song. It doesn’t matter that John’s melody doesn’t mirror the chromatic move – although the harmony vocal does happen to do so as the F# drops to F natural reflecting the D-D minor change.

Answer 38

In My Life
A E F#m A7/G
There are pla-ces I re-mem-ber all my

  Voice leading backing vocal
   F# to F to E

D Dm A
life though some have changed
Woo Woo Woo
IV iv I

Question 39

The Beatles became familiar with the IV major-to-iv minor through a particular pair of favourite early covers that predate ‘Devil In Her Heart’:

Answer 39

‘Till There Was You’ (bridge): ‘music../..and wonderful..’ (B6- B6m- F)

Question 40

The Beatles became familiar with the IV major-to-iv minor through a particular pair of favourite early covers that predate ‘Devil In Her Heart’:

Answer 40

‘Ain’t She Sweet’ (bridge): ‘cast an eye./..in her direction’ (A-Am-E)

Question 41

How is the IV-iv used in Oasis Dont Look Back in Anger ?

Answer 41

‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ – containing a textbook use of the same device – was at the top of the UK charts (hear it both in the ‘gonna start a revolution from my bed’ bridge, and in the final coda where it makes for a melancholy repeat of the title phrase – both times: F-Fm in the key of C).

Question 42

Where was the IV-iv move used perhaps most cleverly?

Answer 42

It was perhaps most cleverly adopted by 10 CC on the classic ‘I’m Not In Love’ where IV-iv disarmingly opens the verse.

Question 43

Having looked at the cadential role of IV as it moves towards I, let’s explore this chord as a point of harmonic departure from the tonic.

Answer 43

There are two main areas to discuss: IV as a ‘quick change’ from I; and the more substantial ‘bridge move’ where IV – primed by a tonic seventh chord acting as a temporary V7 – creates a powerful new sense of tonality removed from the original key centre.

Question 44

I-IV – the ‘quick’ change Only one step more elaborate than the harmonically static ‘extended I chord’ songs like ‘Paperback Writer’ are those many Beatles structures that alternate between I and IV. Indeed the first Beatles single, ‘Love Me Do’, hinged on this exclusively for the verse and refrain, with only the very briefest of nods to the V-chord in the bridge and solo. Nevertheless, it was sufficient to set the songwriting revolution on its way.

Answer 44

G C G C
Love, love me do, you know I love you, I’ll
I IV I IV
G C
always be true so please
I IV

This is indeed a standard method of breaking up the monotony of the tonic and The Beatles used it in a range of songs, often as an opening premise before introducing more harmonically sophisticated material.

Question 45

The quick change would have been heard by The Beatles in a whole range of three-chord contexts – a staple of such recorded covers as ‘Roll Over Beethoven’

Answer 45

(the line ‘I’m gonna write a little letter, gonna mail it to my local DJ’, coincides with I-IV-I.)

Question 46

I-IV and the connection with V-I Check out the start to many Beatles bridges, such as ‘Hey Jude’ ‘Revolution’, ‘Oh Darling’, ‘If I Fell’ and ‘This Boy’, where the tonic I chord doesn’t just move ‘automatically’ to IV as it might while in the course of a verse as we saw above. It does so after having been turned especially into a dominant 7th, or dominant 9th in the case of ‘If I Fell’ and ‘This Boy’. In the process it appears to relinquish its status of ‘home’ tonality as it moves convincingly to the IV chord.

Answer 46

Isn’t this just the same as the V7-I move we saw throughout the last chapter? In a way, yes. After all, the basic mechanism again involves the same voice-leading of the 3rd and flat 7th, as they lead into the root and 3rd of the new chord, respectively. Meanwhile, the root movement ‘up a fourth’ can be seen to be just an inversion (or ‘mirror image’) of the descent of a perfect fifth. For example, ascending five semitones from C and descending seven semitones from C takes us in each case to the F.

Question 47

I-IV and the connection with V-I

Answer 47

This is an important phenomenon as it demonstrates how the two moves are related and how the chord change from C to F is not merely a I-IV in the key of C. It can equally be dressed up as a V7-I – by making C a C7 – thereby allowing F to take on in some cases the new mantle of ‘tonic’ after having been primed by its V7.

Question 48

Priming the V chord: IV-to-V
The role of IV in preparing for the powerful V chord has already been seen in a variety of examples, but it’s worth looking more closely at the relationship between these two chords, separated by the interval of a tone.

Answer 48

The IV-V move can in fact be seen as an integral part of not just blues and rock ‘n’ roll, but all Western pop. It appears not only in the Three-Chord Trick but also the I-vi-IV-V ‘Four-Chord Turnaround’,

Question 49

The Beatles used the IV-V move throughout their songwriting career.
In most cases no particular novelty is suggested. But look closely at the intro and the end of the bridge in ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’.

Answer 49

Dm G C D
its such a feeling that my love I cant hide
IV V
C D C D
I cant hide I cant hide
IV V IV V
Here the return to the I chord (G) is delayed by a driving, reiterated move between the IV and V (C and D) in a move that showcased how two major triads, a whole step apart, could be exploited and turned into the sound of rock. It is ironic that this simple major second interval between two such common chords should have been so overlooked as a particular source of interest in the fifties before The Beatles.

Question 50

Before we leave the IV chord we should highlight the incarnations in which the chord can appear in terms of the chord quality.

Answer 50

Technically, the guidelines for ‘additions’, ‘extensions’ and ‘alterations’ are the same as for the I chord. In practice, however, the major IV chord is most often heard as a simple triad, a bluesy dominant 7th or 9th, occasionally with an added 6th or a diatonic (major) 7th, such as the ‘IV major 7’ chords of ‘No Reply’, ‘Yesterday’ and ‘Sexy Sadie’.

Question 51

The Three-Chord Trick – revisited
What was one of the Beatles greatest contributions to pop songwriting?

Answer 51

one of The Beatles’ greatest contributions to pop songwriting was their skill in combining the familiarity of simple I, IV and V sequences with dramatically new harmonic material apparently so far beyond the Three-Chord Trick.

Question 52

Did The Beatles come from a blues foundation in the way that other British bands of the sixties did?

Answer 52

Many songs were blues-pop hybrid where verses of unashamedly blues sequences were spectacularly juxtaposed against bridges or choruses containing slick minor chords. Most famous in this category is ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ whose verse is a pure 12-bar blues, cunningly disguised by being set against a striking chorus which, as we will see, follows a sophisticated, jazzy Cycle Of Fifths pattern. Similarly, songs like ‘She’s A Woman’, ‘You Can’t Do That’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘I’ll Cry Instead’ and ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ all have clearly blues-based sections that give way to deliciously upbeat minor chords,

Question 53

Indeed ‘Lucy’ is rightly thought of as one of The Beatles’ most sophisticated songs in terms of its overall harmonic structure. But don’t let’s forget that the psychedelic verse meanderings and modulations are nevertheless disarmingly punctuated by a ‘sing-along’ chorus that cycles exclusively around a I-IV-V pattern. The Beatles are playing here on the predictability of I, IV and V specifically for contrast from the more elaborate verse activity that would have overly challenged the listener if continued indefinitely.

Answer 53

G C D
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
I IV V

G C D
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
I IV V

G C D D
Lucy in the sky with diamonds ah
I IV V V

Question 54

The Beatles’ uncanny ability to match harmony to their lyrical contexts was integral to their cultural appeal among the new generation of sixties youth. the same principle can apply with just I, IV and V. Take a look at how the pivotal line of ‘Hey Jude’ helps depict the very process underlying the construction and delivery of the singer’s message.

Answer 54

Key B6 F C F
of F

Lyric remember / heart/ start to/ better
to let her into/ then you/ make it/
your / can/
processthinking/grounding/acting/grounding
Chord IV I V I
subdominant tonic dominant tonic
movement stability tension stabil
Is it just coincidence that the word “heart”, with its connotations of stability, centering and ‘home’, should fall on the grounded tonic chord? In contrast, the instruction, instruction, “remember”, is prompted by an easy shift to the nearby subdominant; while the obvious movement implied in “start” is captured with the tense dominant ahead of that final, satisfying resolution (again in both text and music).

Question 55

McCartney may well have been oblivious to the semantic subtlety on show here, but scan the songbook to see just how often other positive,

Answer 55

grounded words (like ‘here’, ‘home’, ‘yes’, ‘love’, ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘us’, ‘today’, ‘near’ and ‘belong’) coincide with the secure tonic I chord; while verbs and sentiments expressing movement, distance, negativity and insecurity appear in the context of more ‘active’ harmony.

Question 56

Why is pairing the lyrics to harmony in this context important?

Answer 56

such songcrafting encourages us to find meaning in music as we subliminally feel the dynamic ebb-and-flow of a song unfold; while also providing inquisitive Beatles students with a new dimension in songwriting appreciation.