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Related Music Theory Alchemy

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“With a Little Help from My Friends” is a song by the Beatles from their 1967 album ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. It features Ringo Starr who sings the song in the role of ‘Billy Shears’, a fictional character from the ‘Sgt. Pepper’ album. It was composed by Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

The full chord sequence you provided represents the verse. The song itself is predominantly in E Major, but contains several borrowed chords and modal exchanges. As was common with Beatles’s compositions, they often incorporated intricate chord progressions and did not strictly adhere to traditional key signatures.

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“Girl” is a song by The Beatles from their 1965 album “Rubber Soul”. The song is written in the key of E minor and it showcases the band’s ability to incorporate non-diatsubject resorting to non-diatonic progressions and utilizes various seventh chords to establish a more sophisticated and jazzy soundid progression. It’s important to note their use of the Dorian mode, which adds to the melodic and harmonic sophistication of the song. Moreover, the song exhibits the lyrical and songwriting depth of The Beatles.

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The chord progression of “Beast Of Burden” by The Rolling Stones from verse 3 appears to be a standard pop/rock progression with a bit of melodic flavor. It features the chords of E major, B major, C# minor, and A major.

The song is in the key of E Major as that’s the chord the progression starts and ends with, and most of the chords are from the E major scale. There are no borrowed chords, and the progression is repetitive, maintaining a loop throughout most of the song.

Let’s move on to the detailed chord progression analysis, chord names, and their roman numerals.

“Give Me The Night” by George Benson features a smooth jazz and funk-influenced style. The chord progression in Verse 3 demonstrates a strong use of extended and altered chords, which create a richer texture and interesting harmonic movement. This particular chord progression is reminiscent of other popular songs from the same period and genre, displaying the influence of jazz harmony on contemporary R&B and pop music.

“Yesterday” is predominantly composed in the key of F Major. The song is a classic in pop songwriting and showcases the effective use of borrowed chords to capture a unique, nostalgic sound that has made it one of the most covered songs in pop music. Specifically, in this verse, the use of secondary dominants and borrowed chords from the parallel minor key provides the song’s distinctive tonal color.

The Beatles – With A Little Help From My Friends – Verse 3

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Chord Progression

[‘E’, ‘B’, ‘F#m’, ‘F#m’, ‘B’, ‘E’, ‘E’, ‘B’, ‘F#m’, ‘F#m’, ‘B’, ‘E’]

Chord Progression Analysis

“`markdown
E Major (I)
B Major (V)
F# Minor (ii)
F# Minor (ii)
B Major (V)
E Major (I)
E Major (I)
B Major (V)
F# Minor (ii)
F# Minor (ii)
B Major (V)
E Major (I)
“`

Similar Chord Progressions

– “Let it Be” by The Beatles: [‘C’, ‘G’, ‘Am’, ‘C’, ‘F’, ‘C’, ‘G’, ‘F’, ‘C’]

– “No Woman No Cry” by Bob Marley: [‘C’, ‘G’, ‘Am’, ‘F’, ‘C’, ‘G’, ‘F’, ‘C’]

Formatted as:

“`markdown
C Major (I)
G Major (V)
A Minor (vi)
C Major (I)
F Major (IV)
C Major (I)
G Major (V)
F Major (IV)
C Major (I)
“`

Note: Though these progressions are in a different key, when transposed to the key of E major, they carry a similar harmonic structure to that of “With A Little Help From My Friends”.

Musical Analysis

The given progression is largely diatonic to the key of E Major, centered around its tonic (E), dominant (B), and supertonic (F#m). The root movement in this progression cycles around the IV, V, and vi chords of the key, a common feature of pop music.

The verses adopt a I – V – ii – ii – V – I structure, which is repeated twice in each verse. The repetition here not only gives the song a clear and catchy pattern, but it also effectively creates a sense of stability and resolution.

Overall Analysis

The song “With A Little Help From My Friends” by The Beatles is written in the key of E major. The third verse is mostly consistent with the key, with the only chords used are E, F#m, and B.

Style Analysis

This particular verse is quite indicative of The Beatles’ signature style, a blend of traditional pop structures with an innovative approach to harmony. Their use of predominantly major and minor chords showcases their affinity for tonality, while the slightly unconventional ii – ii resolution speaks to their penchant for exploring new harmonic possibilities.

Chords in the Verse 3 section of With A Little Help From My Friends by The Beatles are:

[‘E’, ‘B’, ‘F#m’, ‘F#m’, ‘B’, ‘E’, ‘E’, ‘B’, ‘F#m’, ‘F#m’, ‘B’, ‘E’]