Yesterday I was playing Side by Side and I couldn't help noticing that its middle eight chord structure was just the same as the most common and simple structure found in so many other of our tunes. It offers a really good demonstration of the effectiveness of the 'Circle of Fifths'.
A few examples of other tunes with the same pattern are:
Do Your Duty
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue
Girl of My Dreams
Give it Up
Hometown
I Can't Believe That You're in Love With Me
Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall
Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
Stevedore Stomp
A few examples of other tunes with the same pattern are:
Do Your Duty
Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue
Girl of My Dreams
Give it Up
Hometown
I Can't Believe That You're in Love With Me
Into Each Life Some Rain Must Fall
Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone
Stevedore Stomp
To begin with, the Middle Eight's first chord is III7 (for example A7th in the key of F). This happens in the Middle Eight of dozens of our tunes.
And over the eight bars, we find two bars on each of the 'Circle of Fifth' chords as we head towards the usual V7th.
To make clear what I am trying to explain, the result (in the key of F) is:
And over the eight bars, we find two bars on each of the 'Circle of Fifth' chords as we head towards the usual V7th.
To make clear what I am trying to explain, the result (in the key of F) is:
A7 | A7 | D7 | D7 | G7 | G7 | C7 | C7
How does it sound? Surprisingly effective, in this and a huge number of other tunes our bands play.
Side by Side was composed in 1927 by the great Harry Woods. Words were provided by Gus Kahn.
For an interesting performance of the tune, CLICK HERE.
The Middle Eight starts at 48 seconds.
