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Related Music Theory Alchemy

“Sometimes It Snows In April” is commonly recognised as a hauntingly beautiful ballad that features gentle, intricate piano work and tender vocals. Musically, it explores a slightly complex harmonic structure that creates a profound emotive sound spectrum.

“Kiss” is a funk, synthpop song written, produced and performed by Prince. The song’s structure runs around a simple, repeated two-bar eight-note pattern, but what’s odd is the song’s key. Dotting between E and D, it’s hard to pin down definitively, but the song seems to be written in the ambiguous key of E Mixolydian/D major.

“Hey Jude” goes through a clear progression, switching through the keys of D major, A major and G major. Like many Beatles songs, it cleverly varies between these keys in keeping with the melody and mood of the piece. The complexity of this progression is part of the song’s charm and helps exemplifies the band’s creative approach to composition.

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“Let It Be” is one of The Beatles’ most popular songs and features a primarily major tonality (C Major), giving it its iconic uplifting and inspiring quality. The song’s chord progression is quite standard in terms of pop/rock music, yet it does include some interesting elements like inversions and a 7th chord to add variety and emotional depth.

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The chorus of “Closer” by Nine Inch Nails is built around a progression that oscillates between a single major chord, F, and a single minor seventh chord, Cm7. This is quite minimalistic. Major chords usually have a happy, positive feel, while minor chords induce a somewhat sad, introspective mood. The use of C minor 7th gives a particular color to the progression: it’s a minor chord with an added minor seventh, which means it’s a bit less stable than a regular minor chord.

Prince – Sometimes It Snows In April – Chorus

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Chord Progression

[‘Aadd9’, ‘E/G#’, ‘Aadd9’, ‘E/G#’, ‘Aadd9’, ‘G#7’, ‘F#7sus4’, ‘F#7’, ‘Aadd9’, ‘Bbsus2’, ‘Bsus2’, ‘F#7add11’, ‘Aadd9’, ‘E’]

Chord Progression Analysis

The chords for the chorus are as follows:

– ‘Aadd9’ (‘I add9’)
– ‘E/G#’ (‘V6’)
– ‘Aadd9’ (‘I add9’)
– ‘E/G#’ (‘V6’)
– ‘Aadd9’ (‘I add9’)
– ‘G#7’ (‘V/V7’)
– ‘F#7sus4’ (‘VI7sus4’)
– ‘F#7’ (‘VI7’)
– ‘Aadd9’ (‘I add9’)
– ‘Bbsus2’ (‘bII sus2’, borrowed from Phrygian)
– ‘Bsus2’ (‘II sus2’)
– ‘F#7add11’ (‘VI7 add11’)
– ‘Aadd9’ (‘I add9’)
– ‘E’ (‘V’)

Similar Chord Progressions

Stairway to Heaven’ by Led Zeppelin contains a similar use of added tone chords and modal mixture:
– ‘Am’ (‘i’)
– ‘G#dim’ (‘vii dim’)
– ‘C’ (‘III’)
– ‘D’ (‘IV’)
– ‘F’ (‘VI’)
– ‘G’ (‘VII’)
– ‘Am’ (‘i’)

‘Hey You’ by Pink Floyd has a comparable chromatic mediant move and usage of sevenths and suspended chords:
– ‘Em7’ (‘i7’)
– ‘D/E’ (‘IVadd9/1st inv’)
– ‘Em’ (‘i’)
– ‘A/C#’ (‘IV/1st inv’)
– ‘D7’ (‘V7’)

Musical Analysis

Prince uses a combination of standard I-V chords (Aadd9, E) along with inversions (E/G#), seventh chords (F#7sus4, F#7, G#7), and suspended chords (Bbsus2, Bsus2) which provide tension and variety while maintaining a strong sense of tonality. The use of the bII sus2 (Bbsus2) chord, which is borrowed from the Phrygian mode, is a particularly interesting choice that further creates harmonic tension and ambiguity.

Overall Analysis

The progression for the chorus of “Sometimes It Snows In April” by Prince exhibits a rich mixture of non- diatonic chords and borrowed chords. The tonal center of the song is A, but it doesn’t strictly follow a specific major or minor scale, creating an interesting blend of light and dark tonalities. This characteristic is a common feature in Prince’s works, showing his notable talent for blending the traditional with the unconventional.

Style Analysis

Prince’s harmonic language in ‘Sometimes It Snows In April’ is a good example of his soulful and complex writing style. His use of add9 and sus2 chords give the piece very lush and open sonorities, while the IV7 and V7 chords provide bluesy and jazzy tensions. The flattened II from the Phrygian mode offers an exotic twist characteristic of Prince’s innovative songwriting.

Chords in the Chorus section of Sometimes It Snows In April by Prince are:

[‘Aadd9’, ‘E/G#’, ‘Aadd9’, ‘E/G#’, ‘Aadd9’, ‘G#7’, ‘F#7sus4’, ‘F#7’, ‘Aadd9’, ‘Bbsus2’, ‘Bsus2’, ‘F#7add11’, ‘Aadd9’, ‘E’]