Post 159: POPULAR SONGS WITH MIDDLE EIGHT KEY CHANGES

My friend John Burns suggested I should write something about classic songs that change key during the course of the melody.

This topic fascinates me but I wish I knew more about the theoretical aspects of harmony. John generously over-estimates my ability.

However, I am sure you would agree there are some songs that - when you first hear them - sound as though something weird or wrong has happened, usually at about the midway point of the chorus. You listen to them time and again until you discover the tune has embedded itself in your consciousness and the ‘weirdness’ begins to sound right. You then realise it’s the weirdness that gives the tune its memorable character.

Examples of tunes fitting this description (and I would be grateful if you would suggest any more) are When It’s Sleepy Time Down South, Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans?, China Boy, A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square, Body And Soul, I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and Tea For Two. They all take us by surprise with the chords they use in the Middle Eight.

What seems to happen in these 32-bar tunes is: (1) we begin with two similar 8-bar phrases in the home key; then (2) in Bar 17 we switch into a different key before (3) finding the dominant 7^th in Bar 24 and so (4) returning to a final eight comfortably back in the home key.

As an example, consider When It’s Sleepy Time Down South. In the Key of F, its first two 8-bar phrases are not entirely orthodox. They begin on the chord of Bb major; but this is immediately followed by Bb minor, which takes us naturally into F in the third bar; and so we are comfortably rooted in F up to the end of Bar 16.

Then wow! We are suddenly in the Key of A, with the melody twice climbing the stairs and pottering around at the top of the stave.

But in Bar 24, we land on the A chord, which quickly transmutes into A7th sliding up to C7th – and so we are beautifully steered back into the Key of F for the reassuring final eight bars.

That is pretty much what happens in all these tunes. Probably the simplest is China Boy. It’s usually played in the Key of F but the Middle 8 is distinctly in Ab, with Bars 23 and 24 sliding us back into the comfort zone, via the chords of Ab and C7th respectively.

Then of course there is I Love Paris by the great Cole Porter. The chorus has 16 bars in the minor key followed by virtually the same melody in the major (achieving a sudden brightness from Bar 17). The first sixteen bars could be in C minor, the next sixteen in C major.

I may be wrong, but I think the proportion of classic songs using the harmonic key-changing trick is probably fewer than 10%. But they form an interesting group – offering so much more of a challenge to the musician and improviser than the hundreds of tunes with orthodox harmonic patterns.

Post 146: THE HARMONIC IMPACT OFTHE FIRST NOTE

I wanted to find out on what chord most popular songs start, and what effect this chord has.

I carried out an unscientific survey. But I believe my general conclusions are about right.

I selected at random 60 songs that have stood the test of time - tunes such as Tea for Two and I Can't Give You Anything But Love and It Had To Be You. I then noted the chord with which they start. I am referring to the first chord of the first bar of the Chorus (i.e., omitting any anacrusis).

Five of the tunes turned out to be in minor keys. That's just 8% of the total. These tunes certainly had a 'minor' feel but this did not necessarily make them sad.

I am going to give my attention to the other 92% - those in major keys.

Of these, no fewer than 50 tunes (that's a whopping 83% of all the tunes I looked at) started on the major chord of the tune's key. A tune in the key of F, for example, would start on the chord of F major.

I found the effect of this is to establish firmly and clearly where we are: there's no attempt at subtlety.

Of these 50 tunes, I categorised 38 as bright and cheerful in character, which means about 63% of all popular tunes are likely to be bright, cheerful, un-challenging and starting on the major chord of the home key.

The figure is about what I would have expected; and probably you would too.

But this leaves twelve tunes (20% of all I studied) that begin on the major chord of the home key but are more subtle and complex, perhaps with elements of sadness, nostalgia or melancholy. These include such tunes as I'm In The Mood For Love, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and I'm Getting Sentimental Over You. If you look at the inner workings of these tunes you find minor chords, diminished chords and other surprises (such as a 7th based on the flattened third note of the scale in I'm In The Mood For Love). These chords make the tunes harder to learn but they also give the songs their distinctive colours and make them linger in our minds, it seems to me.

The only tunes from my original 60 not yet mentioned are five in major keys that do not start on the chord of the major key, so that's just 8% of the total. Four of these are 'bright' tunes, the other one less so. These tunes do not seem to lose any impact as a result of not starting on the key chord. Usually they begin on the Dominant 7th, and very quickly inform our ear of the key we are in. An example is (The Bells Are Ringing) For Me And My Girl.

To sum up my main findings:

83% of popular songs are in major keys and begin on the major chord of the home key.

8% of popular songs are in minor keys.

(Note: all percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number.)