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Is “How Will I Know” the only big hit where the key change is to a lower key?

Started by TheMonk, February 20, 2020, 12:50:57 PM

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TheMonk

I heard "How Will I Know" by Whitney Houston on the radio today.
It is highly unusual that a key change is not to a higher key, is it not? Sounds like the song takes its foot off the pedal.
Are there any others?

non capisco

Rocket From A Bottle by XTC. Not a big hit, not even a single. But when have I ever passed up an opportunity to mention XTC?


Crabwalk

'Come on Eileen' shifts down for the chorus doesn't it? Which is counterintuitive as it's viewed as such a euphoric song.

Endicott

Surely if key changes were all upwards, then songs would run out of room to make another key change pretty quickly. I AM NOT A MUSICIAN (CAPS LOCK ENABLED)

Dewt

Quote from: Endicott on February 20, 2020, 02:10:24 PM
Surely if key changes were all upwards, then songs would run out of room to make another key change pretty quickly. I AM NOT A MUSICIAN (CAPS LOCK ENABLED)
Have you ever listened to the Blues Brothers version of Think?

Shit Good Nose

6.55 into this, but start listening a bit before for context - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rG9-7WmeSdc (includes bonus Chester Thompson drumstick twirl)

The original album version remains in the same key at that point.

Crabwalk

Quote from: Dewt on February 20, 2020, 02:12:17 PM
Have you ever listened to the Blues Brothers version of Think?

Or the opposite: 'Walk the Line' by Johnny Cash.

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: Dewt on February 20, 2020, 02:12:17 PM
Have you ever listened to the Blues Brothers version of Think?

Also cf. Tony Williams Lifetime's One Word - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWKYi2oDj80) and the subsequent Mahavishnu Orchestra version minus vocals and retitled Resolution (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drnS3fP72Ro).

Endicott


wosl

Quote from: non capisco on February 20, 2020, 01:31:02 PMwhen have I ever passed up an opportunity to mention XTC?

On the contrary, since technically some sort of mention of them could be included in every reply, I think your restraint has been admirable.  (One of these days I might challenge you to a solid week of having to shoehorn in some reference to Partridge and pals in every single post you make.  I'd like that.)

Shit Good Nose

Quote from: wosl on February 20, 2020, 02:30:04 PM
One of these days I might challenge you to a solid week of having to shoehorn in some reference to Partridge and pals in every single post you make

Pink Floyd consider rewrite.

wosl


daf


Rizla

Up The Junction by Squeeze starts in E, then shifts down to D for a verse after the bridge, then goes back up to E. It's a good trick, you get 2 key changes for the price of one.

daf

It should be impossible, like some MC Escher staircase, but "When I Get Home" by The Searchers is bookended by descending key changes.

It goes down a key after the intro just as the vocals start . . . and then goes down again at the end for the outro strum!

TheMonk

After too much thought on this , Our House by Madness does this albeit briefly.
I think Penny Lane might too? Not sure on that one without listening...

Jockice

Quote from: TheMonk on February 20, 2020, 08:46:17 PM
After too much thought on this , Our House by Madness does this albeit briefly.

Which has just come up on random on youtube while I was in the kitchen. Preceded by The Three Twats' Vindaloo, a song I genuinely don't think I've ever played before in my life.

idunnosomename

Quote from: Endicott on February 20, 2020, 02:10:24 PM
Surely if key changes were all upwards, then songs would run out of room to make another key change pretty quickly. I AM NOT A MUSICIAN (CAPS LOCK ENABLED)
a lot of recordings of Old MacDonald Had A Farm just go up a step each verse.

Thing is step up (which is two notes higher, not a half-step) arent really very "musical". Most key changes (or modulations) are so subtle most listeners wont notice them. It is possible to do a step modulation over a common pivot note, but mostly they're done in popular music the most blatant way possible to grab the listener and get a bit of fists pumping the air vibe.

idunnosomename

Quote from: TheMonk on February 20, 2020, 08:46:17 PM
After too much thought on this , Our House by Madness does this albeit briefly.
I think Penny Lane might too? Not sure on that one without listening...
penny lane's verse is in B and the chorus is in A so actually bringing the chorus up to B at the end is more logical than most

Twit 2

Hello!

It doesn't make sense to say something has moved to a "higher" key, only that it has changed key and the pitch is higher. You have conflated the two. For example, let's say you're in the key of C, then you modulate to the "higher" key of F. It doesn't matter if you go up a fourth or down a fifth as that's the same thing.

TL:DR? Circle of fifths is the circle of fourths....ahhh....

Ok carry on...

idunnosomename

Yeah you could do a shift from E to F# but sing the melody in a lower octave. There are songs that do that its a cool effect

TheMonk

Quote from: idunnosomename on February 21, 2020, 09:15:11 AM
penny lane's verse is in B and the chorus is in A so actually bringing the chorus up to B at the end is more logical than most
Maybe I'm thinking of Strawberry Fields Forever , where they glue the two takes together then.

The two halves of Strawberry Fields Forever were recorded in different keys but we're sped up/slowed down to match while Penny Lane genuinely goes up a tone in the chorus. Some Beatles book said it has the effect of a painting coming to life which I think is a lovely and apt description.

I came into the thread expecting to see non capisco mention rocket from a bottle and was not disappointed. Brilliant key change.


idunnosomename

If you have perfect pitch strawberry fields is excruciating because the tape speeds dont match. I believe. Because im not cursed with perfect pitch

daf

Strawberry Fields is OK to my ears, but I always notice The End going slightly off-key following the drum solo.

DJ Bob Hoskins

The whole 'And in the end..' part is a bit flat, starting with the piano chords just after the last guitar solo.

famethrowa

Ah! Thought of one. Girls Talk by Dave Edmunds, they step down a whole tone for the guitar solo over verse chords, then back up for the vocals. Good stuff.

kalowski

Quote from: DJ Bob Hoskins on February 21, 2020, 11:19:06 PM
The whole 'And in the end..' part is a bit flat, starting with the piano chords just after the last guitar solo.
Relatively flat. By which I mean both parts are in tune, but not with each other. I suspect that the guitars are slightly sharp if the piano was tuned to concert pitch.
It does really annoy me whenever I listen to it.