Gear Shifts

[Nemily]

Music changes every decade or so it seems. Ed Sheeran recently said that he could “sing every song on the pop charts right now with the same four chords”. Cool. Genius even. That got me to wondering a bit on this. Using only three or four chords in a song is not really enigmatic. It’s always been done. One thing that isn’t as prevalent in today’s music are gear shifts. They just aren’t as necessary to the connections that music has with today’s audience.

Many of the predominant songs from what seems like a world ago, had that oomph moment. A gear shift could conjure a deep thought, have a sudden energy, grab our attention or take us to a magical place if they were done effectively.

Some brilliant key changes came out of the late sixties and early seventies. We truly felt like we were whimsically transported to Penny Lane as Lennon-McCartney relived their childhood. We were convinced that Herb Alpert was indeed a guy in love. Many thousands tagged We’ve Only just Begun to debut their forever. The Beach Boys whisk us away and we reminisce with a resounding yes, it would be nice.

One classic key change associated with the A&M label is Every Breath You Take. We are not really sure as it starts out, is this a love song? But then at Since you’ve Gone in the middle at the bridge, Sting tells us emphatically in an Eb modulation, that this is not a love song. I’ve seen the Police do this song live twice, and although it is not my favorite Police song, wow, it is a Sting extravaganza. (Note: they always performed the song live tuned in A, however the original recording is done in Ab, so the Eb reference is to the recorded version).

Another great one is Carpenters’ Close to You. This one has a more subtle and cheerful key change. Following a masterful chord selection for the four-bar intro, Richard Carpenter leaves us assured during the 5th - 8th bars, that we were in for a treat. Then at the moment Chuck Findley dips that flugelhorn solo, RC modulates a direct ½ step ^ in the second half. This modulation completely energized the remainder of this Bacharach-penned charmer, making it a massively popular good vibe song.

I adore the pop music that is currently trending. I also remain way happy connecting to songs that have epic gear shifts. What modulation or key change gave you a what was that moment?

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

"Ed Sheeran recently said that he could “sing every song on the pop charts right now with the same four chords”.

The irony is that he's written many of them himself. This is how he gets sued for echoing other people's tunes. He is painfully unadventurous and aims for the lowest common denominator audience. Until he decides to stop being lazy (he likely doesn't have to be), he will continue to live in fear of being sued. I'm hopeful that he got the hint this last time and he'll use a wider musical vocabulary with which to write songs. He likely could.

Sorry, just had to address that real quick...

Ed

 

[Mark-T]

"Painfully unadventurous"- that's one of the last descriptors I'd use for his music. But maybe MY hearing is deteriorating!

 

[Nemily]

The irony is that he's written many of them himself. This is how he gets sued for echoing other people's tunes. He is painfully unadventurous and aims for the lowest common denominator audience. Until he decides to stop being lazy (he likely doesn't have to be), he will continue to live in fear of being sued. I'm hopeful that he got the hint this last time and he'll use a wider musical vocabulary with which to write songs. He likely could.

Precisely. That’s kind of where I was going with this thread, to compare the changes in song structures from then to now. He absolutely has the ability to move around more. When I say he is brilliant, I purely meant in terms of being successful with it.