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“Can You Feel The Love Tonight” by Elton John is a heart-touching love song that carries a smooth flowing blend of pop and soft rock, showing Elton John’s inclination to use diatonic (major and minor) chords, 7th chords and inversions. The song, largely stays in its home key of C major, has an interesting chord progression that shifts between the tonic, subdominant, and dominant. Internally, there are multiple secondary dominant chords and borrowing from the parallel minor, providing color and contrast.

“Your Song” is characterized by a varied and complex chord progression that helps to emphasize the emotional complexity of the lyrics. This is apparent in the progression used in Verse 2, which employs several techniques used frequently by Elton John. These include the use of secondary dominants, borrowed chords, modal mixture, and chromatic bass movements to add emotional color and reinforce the feeling of tension and resolution in the song’s narrative.

The chorus of Radiohead’s “Paranoid Android” features an unconventional and diverse chord progression, drawing from various scale degrees. This progression contributes to the song’s complex, shifting quality, moving through several tonal centers.

“Bennie And The Jets” by Elton John, released in 1973, features a distinctive chord progression that exemplifies Elton’s advanced harmonic sensibility and taste for grand piano-based balladry. The song is mainly in the key of G Major.

“Tonight, Tonight” by The Smashing Pumpkins draws from the band’s unique style of alternative rock influenced by a distinct palette of harmonic choices. Particularly in the songwriting of Billy Corgan (the band’s primary songwriter), the band tends to use a mix of common and uncommon chords, together with a tendency of exploring different tonalities. Often, the chord changes are driven by guitar inversions, suspensions, or additions.

Elton John – Can You Feel The Love Tonight – Chorus

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Chord Progression

[‘G’, ‘D/F#’, ‘Em’, ‘C’, ‘G’, ‘C’, ‘A/C#’, ‘D’, ‘C’, ‘G/B’, ‘Em’, ‘G/D’, ‘C’, ‘Am’, ‘G’, ‘C’, ‘A/C#’, ‘D’, ‘G’, ‘D/F#’, ‘Em’, ‘C’, ‘G’, ‘C’, ‘A/C#’, ‘D’, ‘C’, ‘G/B’, ‘Em’, ‘G/D’, ‘C’, ‘Am’, ‘G’, ‘C/D’, ‘C/G’, ‘G’]

Chord Progression Analysis

Here’s the Roman numeral analysis of the listed chord progression, and their full chord names:

“`
G (I)
D/F# (V6)
Em (vi)
C (IV)
G (I)
C (IV)
A/C# (♭II6, borrowed chord)
D (V)
C (IV)
G/B (I6)
Em (vi)
G/D (I6/4)
C(IV)
Am (ii)
G (I)
C (IV)
A/C# (♭II6 , borrowed chord)
D (V)
G (I)
D/F# (V6)
Em (vi)
C (IV)
G (I)
C (IV)
A/C# (♭II6, borrowed chord)
D (V)
C (IV)
G/B (I6)
Em (vi)
G/D (I6/4)
C (IV)
Am (ii)
G (I)
C/D (IV6/4)
C/G (IV6/4)
G (I)
“`

The line beginning with ‘G’, ‘D/F’ and so on is your original list of chords.

Similar Chord Progressions

1) The song “Let it Be” by The Beatles exhibits a similar chord progression, primarily using the I-IV-V (G-C-D in its case) with the sparing use of vi (Em) and ii (Am). Their original progression: [‘G’, ‘D’, ‘Em’, ‘C’, ‘G’, ‘C’, ‘D’]

2) The song “The House of the Rising Sun” by The Animals follows the I-IV (Am-C) progression while occasionally using the V (E) and borrowing a D (ii) from G major. The original progression is [‘Am’, ‘C’, ‘D’, ‘F’, ‘Am’, ‘E’, ‘Am’].

Note that these are not exact matches, but they share similar elements with the progression in “Can You Feel The Love Tonight”. The borrowed chord and inversions utilized by Elton John distinguishes his song from these examples, thus further expressing his unique style.

Musical Analysis

This song is built largely upon the I-IV-V-vi-ii progressions, traditional in many pop songs. The A/C# chord is borrowed, likely from D Major’s chords as it is the fifth of D. This borrowed chord adds a unique flare to the standard pop ballad progression, adding a sense of leading towards the ‘D’ chord. The inclusion of inversions, chords whose root notes are not the lowest note of the chord, further adds to the uniqueness of the song.

Overall Analysis

“Can You Feel The Love Tonight” is a pop ballad written in the key of G major. The progression makes traditional use of the G major chord scale with a notable exception of a borrowed chord A/C#.

Style Analysis

Pop ballads like this tend to lean heavily on emotionally evocative melodies and chord progressions, and Elton John, with his characteristic blend of pop and classical elements, makes full use of these techniques. The chord progression is smooth, with seamless transitions between chords enabling Elton John’s famous melodic style to shine through.

Chords in the Chorus section of Can You Feel The Love Tonight by Elton John are:

[‘G’, ‘D/F#’, ‘Em’, ‘C’, ‘G’, ‘C’, ‘A/C#’, ‘D’, ‘C’, ‘G/B’, ‘Em’, ‘G/D’, ‘C’, ‘Am’, ‘G’, ‘C’, ‘A/C#’, ‘D’, ‘G’, ‘D/F#’, ‘Em’, ‘C’, ‘G’, ‘C’, ‘A/C#’, ‘D’, ‘C’, ‘G/B’, ‘Em’, ‘G/D’, ‘C’, ‘Am’, ‘G’, ‘C/D’, ‘C/G’, ‘G’]