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Corinne Bailey Rae |
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Girl Put Your Record On
For those who are not extremely technically minded you should probably read this paragraph quickly and then move on to the following paragraph which will be easier to understand. With regards to the second chord in this song – it took me a while to decide what would be the best chord to play over the guitar part. In the end I figured out it would be chord #4 played as a m7b5 with note 6 in the bass (the second note of the chord). This is a pretty standard chord. m7b5 is the chord that is played over note 7 of the major key and on note 7 would fit the key nicely. Why is this chord being played on note #4? I have written an article on this issue so see article titled Close Keys, however, in short, #4 denotes the use of the Lydian mode (which is the same as the Dorian mode in the relative minor). Lydian mode only ever turns up momentarily in a pop song as far as I can see – a whole song is never in Lydian mode – it is just used to accommodate certain chords that do not fit the key – usually when chord 2 becomes major (2j). However, when the Lydian mode is used, the notes and chords being used are borrowed from one of the 2 close keys – here namely the key that is rooted on note 5. In order to find the borrowed key, note 5 of the original key becomes note 1 of the borrowed key and therefore note #4 is note 7 from the borrowed key. Hence it will be a m7b5. Therefore, in the Lydian mode (one of the 2 close keys) this chord is a standard chord 7 from the borrowed key. If you can’t play a m7b5 then try chord 6 but play it as a minor 6th (it’s not correct but it uses most of the right notes). The best chords to play over the following 2 chords, occupying half a bar each, I felt would be a 13th followed by a 9th. I used a sus4 on the chord chart so that it does not get too close to the exact chords of the original in order to ensure I don’t breach copyright.
I have a theory regarding chord sequences where the first and last chord are the same. Usually chord d is of great significance – it leads back into the starting chord – chord a. However, if chord d is the same as chord a then the return to the starting chord has happened early. Therefore my theory is that in this scenario, chord c inherits the same characteristics that chord d usually possesses. Unfortunately I do not really have enough samples of this scenario to do a good test of this theory. Most of the examples where I have 1bc1 however have 5 in the c position – one of them has 4. In fact a number of them have 2 chords occupying the c position which kind of makes sense since that makes up for the fact that the sequence, (according to my theory) ends early and therefore this means that another chord is squeezed in to create a four chord sequence. This is similar to the usual situation regarding position d – 43% of the time d is chord 5 and 22% of the time it is chord 4. This is highly significant since only leaves 35% for all other options. Any other option therefore will be far less than either of these (in terms of % occupying d position). It seems to me that chord 5 and chord 4 create a very strong ending to a sequence and the use of either of these in position d helps to create a very catchy sequence – particularly chord 5.
From my perspective this sequence is very short. It’s almost like a 3 chord sequence. I feel that part of the catchyness of this sequence lies in the use of the chord 5 at the end of the movement. However I don’t think this is ever enough to make a sequence a hit catchy sequence. If this is true then it seems to me that the use of the m7b5 on #4 must significantly contribute to the catchyness of this sequence. I know of no other songs that only use 2 chords between 1 and 1 (1bc1). I only know of two other songs that have a and d the same with only 2 chords in between as a repetitive sequence. One is the verse for Somebody Told Me by The Killers – 6626: this is slightly unusual due to the length of the bars (very long) and due to that fact that line 2 begins on chord d. Really this sequence in my mind is a kind of continuous chord 6 with a movement to 2 at the end of the sequence. The continuous 6 makes it very dissimilar to a standard 4 chord sequence. The other is the chorus for I bet that you look good on the dance floor by Arctic Monkeys. This uses 1 to 5 in position bc: 5 follows 1 in this position 45% of the time and 4 follows 1, 27% of the time. Also, chord 5 is in position c just as with our present song. Also, when chord a is 1, chord c is seldom ever 5 in a four chord repetitive sequence. In fact the only 2 times I can think of where this actually occurs is in the verse of Stacy’s Mum by Fountains of Wayne and the chorus of the OC theme tune California which both use 1454. I feel this adds weight to my theory that c in the current sequence has inherited the usual characteristics of d.
The bridge in this song starts on chord 6. Bridges can begin on almost any chord, the important thing being that it creates some contrast and temporary movement away from the verse. It is followed by a 3j. 3j tends to occur in sequences beginning with 6 and tend to be followed by 6 as far as I can see. They may also occur more often than 3 in such sequences. The bridge ends with a chord 4 followed by a 4m. I think this is always an amazing effect. It occurs in When September Ends by Greenday with amazing effect, it also occurs in More than Words with amazing effect. I have to confess that I have no idea why it works so well. Why do we not see chord 5 followed by 5m? This would move to one of the close keys. Either way – it is an amazing effect and well worth using.
The Chorus uses the same sequence as the verse – illustrating (in my mind) how much a catchy sequence can be inherent in making a song catchy. If you get a really catchy sequence then you can use it for the verse and the chorus. Tagged on to the end of this sequence (played twice) is the 4 followed by 4m again – which once again has tremendous effect and also creates a little contrast before returning to the same sequence yet again.
Note in the Middle 8 each chord is played for 2 bars. This also helps to create good contrast.
16th April 2006
©
2006 Phil Warren