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Post by jk on Aug 19, 2020 12:48:42 GMT
There must be hundreds of songs with verses in minor and choruses in major. But there are others that treat the interplay of major and minor in more interesting ways. Take Love's "The Red Telephone", where A minor and A major alternate from 3:18 to the end:
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 19, 2020 14:54:25 GMT
Interesting topic, jk. I've got no examples that are top of mind, though. I'll try to keep my ears open for some.
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Post by jk on Aug 20, 2020 9:36:58 GMT
I still have an ace up my sleeve, but first, how about "Oh Darlin'" from KTSA, an album now under review across the road? In the bridge (here at 2:05), Mike sings B flat (not unnaturally, since he's singing over a B flat chord), while the band answers him with a B natural over the D minor chord. That said, it sounds most effective and in fact makes an otherwise (to these ears) bland outing interesting: In Brian's original, there's no "Mike line" (here at 2:30), just the answering vocals, and you don't feel the clash so much: I suppose in the context of major versus minor, it might be more correct in this instance to speak of a flat and a cancelling natural.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 20, 2020 11:34:18 GMT
Wouldn't that second chord be a Bmin7? A D min with a B in it? If that's the case, it's Bb-Bmin7, which if you're expanding the first chord into a maj7 shares everything but the ascending half-step root.
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Post by jk on Aug 21, 2020 10:52:39 GMT
Wouldn't that second chord be a Bmin7? A D min with a B in it? If that's the case, it's Bb-Bmin7, which if you're expanding the first chord into a maj7 shares everything but the ascending half-step root. I see it differently but never mind! Thanks for your thoughts on the subject. The ace up my sleeve is Elton John's "I'm Still Standing". A simple, straightforward song at face value, its complaining, almost whiney verses are in B flat major and its defiant, jubilant choruses are in B flat minor -- and it works! Is this the only song that does this? It amazes me every time: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I%27m_Still_Standing
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 21, 2020 11:32:24 GMT
How about "While My Guitar Gently Weeps?" The verses are built on that descending line from an Am chord, and then the refrain is a li'l ray of A-major sunshine.
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Post by jk on Aug 21, 2020 12:21:37 GMT
How about "While My Guitar Gently Weeps?" The verses are built on that descending line from an Am chord, and then the refrain is a li'l ray of A-major sunshine. I agree with your description of "WMGGW" but probably hundreds of songs do the same-key minor verse, major refrain bit: "Runaway", "No Milk Today" (Herman's Hermits), "Eleanor" (The Turtles), "Tell Him" (The Exciters), just off the top of my head... That's exactly my point -- the other way round (major verse, minor refrain) is pretty well unheard-of.
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Post by kds on Aug 21, 2020 12:25:06 GMT
I've always found Metallica's The Unforgiven interesting because they flipped the formula for power ballads with a heavy verse and lighter chorus.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 21, 2020 12:26:08 GMT
Oh my god. I have completely missed the point of your entire thread and only just now realized it. I didn't realize we were excluding that (more common) approach, and thought you were just collecting examples of shifting between the two. My apologies for lazy reading!
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Post by jk on Aug 24, 2020 9:28:33 GMT
"Sailor's Tale", from King Crimson's 1971 album Islands, features one of the most extraordinary guitar solos ever committed to wax (here after 2:35). But the reason it's in this thread is the solitary A major chord (here at 1:30) shining like a beacon across a dark sea of A minor: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islands_(King_Crimson_album)
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Post by jk on Aug 25, 2020 20:48:34 GMT
Here's a curious example from Sunflower. In "At My Window", there's an unexpected B minor chord at 1:54 which switches back to B major at 1:59. It seems it's unexpected for one of the players as there's definitely a D sharp to be heard, but from whom?
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 25, 2020 20:55:02 GMT
I was going to ask for clarification, especially about whether you meant the lower-register flute doing the back-and-forth between two notes (not hearing any errors), but you've changed your post to not point at the apparently guilty party. I am going to listen in headphones to see if I can figure this out. Obviously this moment always struck me as unusual--it's quite jarring--but never as an error.
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Post by jk on Sept 6, 2020 21:32:12 GMT
How about Ella's "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye"? The line at 1:40 ("But how strange the change from major to minor") takes her literally from one to the other:
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Post by jk on Sept 23, 2020 12:55:40 GMT
"Laughing", from David Crosby's sublime 1971 album If I Could Only Remember My Name, is mainly in major but dips into minor at the words "I was mistaken", accompanied on their second and third appearances by some stratospheric pedal steel courtesy of Mr Garcia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Could_Only_Remember_My_Name
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Post by jk on Oct 1, 2020 9:12:30 GMT
This may or may not be deliberate on Richard Wright's part. At 1:16 in the otherwise moodily minor "Pow R Toc H" he hits a major third in the melody before slithering back down into G minor:
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