I lifted this passage from this website
The article is called building a mystery by Ger Tillekens
http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME01/Building_a_Mystery.html
I think this illustrates how to really apply music theory. It would be great if some of the capable people here disected more songs this way so we could understand the theory behind them.
"In music, classic and popular alike, there are many harmonic progressions or so-called cadences. Most known, of course, is the old standard: C -» F -» G -» C or I -» IV -» V -» I. It consists of the three basic chords, the tonic I, the subdominant IV and the dominant V. Taken together these three chords follow a semantic logic. In relation to each other, they all add some kind of meaning to the lyrics. The tonic symbolizes the place, where the singer stands voicing the dialogues or monologues of the song. With the subdominant the song takes a step back as if the singer retreats in an inner world to think something over. The dominant on the other hand can be interpreted as a step forward. Combined with this chord we often find lyrics in which the singer addresses someone else explicitly."
i think thats merely your interpretation of the music, i really wouldnt say that counted for a lot of people (not me)
people have different interpretations of music, that is great if thats how you see it, if this is just how you feel about it, ignore this post, but it kind of seemed like an explaination that i can put down to how you see things, which is good..
but not how everyone see's it..
like i listen to classical music and instrumental guitarists and neoclassical guitar music i write..
and i know these cadences to be something TOTALLY different, i dont associate music and lyrics anymore..
so the way i like to use I-IV-V-I is different because i see it more of a "winding road", and different cadences mean different thing, in orchestral pieces it differs even more, how the composer see's what a cadence does in his head and tries to associate the music (in the cadences) to what they are trying to put across.
Different views for different people i guess.
lol, I don't think I have the time or sense to dissect songs to that degree. Can't we just keep refering to someone elses hard work?
Come on now, it's not that difficult. I'll start.
Ok class, let's talk about Mary Had a Little Lamb.
This song begins in the sharped Dorian mode with the seventh mediant suspended. Then it moves, or flows if you will, into the second phase of the moon over G#. Finally, you end up with a gin and tonic and rest at the 13th hole.
.........and pass the mint sauce please........
i've always looked at the I - IV - V progression as a sort of legal drama - opening statement, expound, closing statement........
Neat and logical.
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
This discussion reminds me of Ellen Barkin in the movie "Diner", where her husband complains that she never asks what's on the flip side of a record. He's upset that she doesn't care about the studio, the musicians, the songwriter or anything else.
She says, "I just want to listen to the music."
If it sounds good, it sounds good.
Blame it on the lies that killed us, blame it on the truth that ran us down.
right now were discussing not whether it sounds good or not, but how we interprate the "soundsgoodness" and what it means, in a sense. not what it logically means on the level, but deep into it as creative beings. when i think of the basic I IV V I, i think of that song "good riddance" by greenday... and it kind of does give the sense of a winding road, that just kind of ends back at the start. but even there, the lyrics give that sense, too.
and when applied to "every rose has its thorn" by poison, it kind of has the step back and forth and withdraw and think feel to it, and it's closely attached to both the melody line of the lyrics, and the lyrics themselves.
whoah. Im gonna stop thinking before i do some serious damage.
think: "blues shuffle. Blues shuffle."
there we go. daa da da dum da dum danadananana
