at the 3:47 mark

You mean modulation.

Thnks GasLight - I was going to mention that too. I mostly hate, loathe modulation in pop music, because 99% of the time it sounds very clunky, and forced. There is some misguided credo that this adds excitement, or adds dynamic and drama. Maybe in a songwriters 101 class. You hear it in Amrican Idol type songs.
So when it is done in a very elegant way I really appreciate it. E.g. "My Girl" has a beautiful modulation, that makes sense. Or "My Sweet Lord".

It's not so much the key changes, it's when they drop those sea changes in that I have a problem....

Won'T Get Fooled Again, by The Who.

Lodi CCR
If I fell Beatles
Me and Bobby MCGee Janis Joplin
Slipping Away Max Merritt & The Meteors (for Australian readers)

any stones stones? I can't think of any of the top of my head

Hot Stuff

Hotel California is a famous one-chorus in G major verse in something minor

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z
Hot Stuff

Yeah, I was jamming with it the other day.

It's changes back again after a while.

Sunny by Bobby Hebb. It changes keys (modulates) every verse.

Key changing is sometimes described as a way to make a boring song less boring. Some would say Hot Stuff falls into that category

This song has some great key changes.

Harlem Shuffle.

Mathijs

The Beatles were the masters of this technique-in a good way. EG Penny Lane, And I Love Her even Sgt Peppers.
For those interested there is an excellent web site worth checking- www.gearchange.org

Come On would qualify as one of those "clunky" ones, I reckon

Forgot about Come On! Very good example. No wonder they refuse to play it.

My Generation

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ozziestone
Key changing is sometimes described as a way to make a boring song less boring. Some would say Hot Stuff falls into that category

On the other hand they return to the initial key after Harvey Mandel's solo again. So Harvey was cheating.

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Palace Revolution 2000
Thnks GasLight - I was going to mention that too. I mostly hate, loathe modulation in pop music, because 99% of the time it sounds very clunky, and forced. There is some misguided credo that this adds excitement, or adds dynamic and drama. Maybe in a songwriters 101 class. You hear it in Amrican Idol type songs.
So when it is done in a very elegant way I really appreciate it. E.g. "My Girl" has a beautiful modulation, that makes sense. Or "My Sweet Lord".

It is weird how some people make their songs do that. You mentioned My Sweet Lord - I don't think I ever noticed. There are just a few that seamlessly work - obviously that's one of 'em - but most are just jarring horrible 'let's sing a lot higher!' changes. Ah ha ha ha - there's one by either Journey or Aremosmith that everytime I hear it on the radio it astounds me that they could actually sing even higher than they were.

I think Its Only Make Believe by Conway Twitty does that.

My Sweet Lord

Long Hot Summer Night by Jimi starts in C and modulates up a whole step.

You got the Sun, You got the Moon,
and you've got
The Rolling Stones

One for my baby and one for the road

[thepowergoats.com]

Good choice, James. I used to have this debate with a fellow songwriter when we were playing/recording in a band together. To him, modulation was anathema, a cheap cliche, too obvious, to be avoided at all cost. To me, it was, when used judiciously/sparingly, a great way of ramping up the drama or carrying the tune home. On a song on my current band's new album we modulate twice, going up a step each time, on the refrain at the end. "Too much?" we asked ourselves. "Absolutely not", we decided unanimously.

Agreed andrewm. Modulation can work well. But also can be a lazy way of pepping up an otherwise ordinary song. Come On is a good example of the later.

My band struggles with key changes I must say-we tend to ignore them (eg Lodi)

I recall Chuck Berry trying to change key in the middle of Roll of Beethoven on Hail Hail with Keith firmly stopping him

I'm not sure if Keith would be up to a key change (in concert anyway) these days???

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andrewm
Good choice, James. I used to have this debate with a fellow songwriter when we were playing/recording in a band together. To him, modulation was anathema, a cheap cliche, too obvious, to be avoided at all cost. To me, it was, when used judiciously/sparingly, a great way of ramping up the drama or carrying the tune home. On a song on my current band's new album we modulate twice, going up a step each time, on the refrain at the end. "Too much?" we asked ourselves. "Absolutely not", we decided unanimously.

I agree, it really does amp it up, and I've always found that singers in particular enjoy key changes the most. Your former bandmate who debated this; let me guess... you sing, and he doesn't?
What's your band called. Andrew?

[thepowergoats.com]



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-02-11 02:36 by jamesfdouglas.

There's always Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life. Modulate that and you'd need to be careful where you end up

Dylan once said (no doubt tongue in cheek) that D was the key of instrospection and B was the key of the pedant. (I'm parapharsing)

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ozziestone
Agreed andrewm. Modulation can work well. But also can be a lazy way of pepping up an otherwise ordinary song. Come On is a good example of the later.

My band struggles with key changes I must say-we tend to ignore them (eg Lodi)

I recall Chuck Berry trying to change key in the middle of Roll of Beethoven on Hail Hail with Keith firmly stopping him

I'm not sure if Keith would be up to a key change (in concert anyway) these days???

Keith modulates on his own here!